The Revolution of One Star
by SeekerSky143
Summary: All Sanji ever wanted was a normal life. Struggling to find his place with everything thrown to him, he finally gains something he has always wanted - acceptance, friendship, and something unexpected. Eventual Zosan, with other pairings. AU.
1. Rendezvous

Hey! First things first, even though this IS a school fic, it is not primarily about school life and sorts. It's more of friendship (hence the genre specified), and most of it occurs OUTSIDE the school. xP I have deviated quite a bit from the OP universe in terms of ages, for instance instead of Luffy being younger than Sanji and Zoro, he's of the same age. Ace isn't three years older than Luffy, but only one year, and Franky isn't in his 30s.

Also, there are probably gonna be other pairings other than Zosan in this fic, though I won't mention any yet. :P AND this might be quite a long fic, though I'm not too sure. I've already drafted up till the 4th chapter of now, so I sort of know where the story's going already. They will be a BIT of spoilers at the 4th chapter IF you haven't reached the latest manga arc, which is Punk Hazard.

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN ONE PIECE. Only the awesome Oda does.

**Chapter 1 || Rendezvous**

Damn it, he was running late. Why the _hell_ was he running late anyway? It was his first day of school! And it was _literally_ his first day of school. He had _never_ went to school before, had always been home-schooled, and now he was running late? It was ridiculous.

Considering that it was his very first time attending school, he hadn't known what to bring, so he brought nothing at all. He had never given much thought to what to bring before; he had been home-schooled, and everything was just where he left it at home.

He ran quickly into the school, his long legs covering wide stretches of distances easily and with barely a minute to spare, he made it to class, his hair slightly dishevelled, his breathing a bit uneven, but otherwise he looked, and seemed, completely normal.

"Oh, this must be the new transfer student," The bespectacled teacher, Kame-sensei, said, "Please introduce yourself." He told the blond, inviting him into the classroom.

Introduce himself..? "I'm Sanji," He said, his gaze flitting across the room, noting every new face in the class – his new _classmates_. The word felt unfamiliar on his lips.

"Oh… have you not bought any school books yet?" The sensei asked. School books..? It was only then that Sanji realized that almost all of his classmates had books placed on their tables and his…

"At home," He explained simply. The sensei frowned.

"Why haven't you brought it?"

"… I didn't know I needed to," He answered stoically. This resulted in a burst of giggles from his classmates.

"Y-You…" The sensei glared at him, thinking that his honest words were a sign of rudeness and insolence. "Never mind," He gave up, "Go sit by Luffy, that's the only empty seat left."

"Who's Luffy?" Sanji asked the class, and an overzealous raven-haired young man bounded up to his feet, waving.

"Here! I'm Luffy!" The guy said, a straw hat bouncing merrily behind his back. The blond let out a deep sigh. He didn't like the thought of sitting next to some overly-enthusiastic guy like Luffy apparently was. He definitely wouldn't be able to get any peace and quiet. However, he still made his way to his designated seat anyway. "I'm Luffy, Monkey D. Luffy! What about you?" The raven-haired guy immediately asked upon Sanji's arrival… obviously he hadn't heard Sanji's name when he introduced himself at the front of the classroom.

"Sanji," The blond answered. Luffy frowned at him, tilting his head slightly towards the left.

"You're weird."

"Why?" Sanji knew what Luffy was going to say anyway, but he still asked.

"Your eyebrow is curly." Luffy stated, and then added hastily, "Do you only have one eye? What happened to your other eye?"

"Nothing happened, it's just… a hairstyle," Sanji answered, mentally cursing that old man Zeff for forcing him to keep this hairstyle. Even though the blond would like nothing more than to turn away from the overly enthusiastic straw hat boy, he knew that going to school was about making friends, so he decided to give it a shot. After all, he _did_ come here for a normal life. "What about your straw hat?"

"It's important! Shanks gave it to me!" Luffy proclaimed proudly.

"Shanks..?"

"He was an important friend of mine!" Luffy elaborated, "But he moved away from here to go somewhere else. He didn't want to tell me where, but he gave me this straw hat!" He grinned brightly, "It's my most important possession!"

"Ah, I see," Sanji nodded his head, wondering who the _hell_ actually _wore_ straw hats.

"Sanji! You wanna join my team?" Luffy asked suddenly.

"Team?" Sanji echoed.

"Yep! Actually I don't know what it is… well, actually what I meant was, you wanna join me and my group of friends during break today? You'll _love_ them!" Luffy invited. "There are a few of them in this class already. Well, there's Nami over there, you know, the girl with the long bright orange hair?" He jumped up to his feet and pointed at the pretty girl named Nami, who was seated at the back of the class. The fiery-haired girl gave Luffy a sharp glance before turning away. "And that's Usopp, the one with the long nose." Without Luffy's guidance, Sanji knew immediately who Usopp was – without a doubt, it had to be that tan-skinned man seated at the front of the class with a long nose and a head of curly, untidy hair.

"Oh…"

"There are more! There's Franky, an upperclassman – he's very old! He never graduated! And also, there's Zoro… he skipped class again today," Luffy pouted. "I bet he's still practising at the dojo… anyway, there's also Brook, but he's not from this school. He's an underground musician, and he's awesome! I assure you!"

"Oh, there's also this junior called Chopper, he's one of those weird ones," Luffy said. Sanji understood immediately. Some people were naturally born with a weird kind of genetic mutation, where they ended up looking… unusual. Nobody thought much of it when they see such people roaming the streets, though – it had become quite a common sight. "He's a reindeer!"

"That's cool," Sanji replied, nodding his head.

"Oh, there's also," Luffy looked around, and then whispered softly in Sanji's ear, "Nico Robin… you can't let anyone know that she's with us!"

"Why?"

"Because she's a _sensei_," Luffy hissed. "It's not right for sensei to mingle with students, that's what she said! You'll see her soon! She's our history teacher, but she's not only a history teacher! Nami told me that she's also an archaeologist, and she has invested in a lot of things so she's really powerful and rich! Robin's incredible!" Luffy said brightly.

"She must be really smart." The blond commented, looking out the window. He caught sight of a green-headed man leaning against the trunk of a tree, fast asleep – wait, _green_-headed? He had got to be wrong. He turned his attention back to Luffy. "You want me to join you?"

"Yeah, say yes! Come on!" Luffy begged. "You'll be awesome!"

The blond gave a non-committal shrug, and then turned to look out the window once again.

Luffy may not have known it, but those words meant a lot to him. Nobody had ever _tried_ to make friends with him before. Where he lived, he was barred even such simple things…

Sanji ran a hand through his hair. Perhaps deciding to go to school was a good choice after all. He came here to lead a normal life, and now he'd have what he had always longed for.

...

"So this is Sanji," Luffy introduced briefly. "Only Robin, Brook and Zoro aren't here… ah well, you'll get to know them soon enough." The moment Sanji caught sight of Nami, his eyes practically turned into heart-shapes.

"Nami-swan! Your beauty is so mesmerizing," Sanji leapt to his feet, landing in front of the bright caramel-haired lady, who raised an eyebrow at his actions, "Would you care to have dinner with me?"

"Uh, Luffy, you've brought another weird one!" The long-nosed man named Usopp complained, "Look at him!" Luffy just laughed.

"Nami-sis, you've got another admirer! But most of them prefer to admire you afar… since they don't want to ignite your wrath! Hahahaha," A man with striking blue hair, styled up high above his head, commented, and Nami shot him a glare. The man, Sanji had realized, was called Franky – he had a terrifyingly huge body, but with oddly skinny legs that were disproportionate to his big torso. Apparently he was a mechanic, a technician – he could repair and build practically _anything_, as Chopper had told Sanji.

"Oh no, even though I don't know you, I don't want you to get killed!" Chopper said, using his hooves to cover his eyes, "I'm not going to look!" The reindeer turned away. Nami crossed her arms at Sanji's absurd request, until the corners of her lips tugged upwards to form a sneaky smile.

"Okay," Nami answered.

"WHAT?" Usopp and Chopper chorused.

"But on one condition," Nami grinned.

"Oh no, this is even worse than Nami murdering you! This is Nami… _scheming_! She's up to no good! Sanji, you'd better run," Usopp said, trying to push Sanji away from Nami, but somehow he couldn't manage to get the blond to budge.

"Anything you say, Nami-swan!"

"Sanji's getting along with everyone already, isn't he?" Luffy continued to laugh. "I knew he would!"

"Luffy! Your new friend's gonna get killed by Nami! Save him!" Chopper begged, holding onto Luffy's arm, but Luffy just continued to laugh.

"Nah, he can't get killed so easily, he's strong," Luffy answered.

"How do you know?" Nami frowned. The man looked tall and lean, but he didn't seem to have an ounce of muscle in him. She compared him to Zoro, and chuckled. There was no way this man could be considered strong. But Luffy had an uncanny tendency to be… _correct_.

"I just know," Luffy replied. "He seems strong, doesn't he?"

"No, not at all," Usopp and Chopper answered together again, and then shook their heads. "No, this is no use, we can't get through to him – we have to count on ourselves to save the new student!" Usopp proclaimed, raising his fist in the air.

"Yes!" Chopper squealed.

"Sanji-san," Nami cooed, beckoning him to come closer. After Luffy's statement, she felt very… curious about the man's strength. If Luffy thought that Sanji was strong, he _had_ to be strong.

"Yes, Nami-swan~?" The blond approached her gaily. "What would you like?"

"I'll have dinner with you… only if you're willing to fight Zoro."

"ZORO..?" Usopp nearly fainted in shock.

"Swordsman-bro?" Franky shouted, completely aghast.

"Z-Z-Zoro..?" Chopper hid behind Luffy.

"Ahahaha, Zoro?" Luffy laughed good-naturedly. "Zoro will be happy to have someone to fight with. After his loss to Ace, he got really upset, didn't he?"

"Not only upset, but freaking murderous, that's what it is!" Usopp grabbed Luffy by the shoulders, "I mean, Ace was stronger than Zoro and all, and he accepted that, but since that, Zoro has become freaking _crazy_!"

"Yeah, he's always holding this competition at the dojo, right? So far he's got all the sports leaders to fight him, and none of them won! He's trying to get anyone who seems strong enough to fight, so that he can win! Sanji can't win against him!" Chopper protested, "Nami, don't send him to his death! Only Ace can win Zoro!"

"Sanji's strong, I'm sure nothing will happen to him," Luffy stated so confidently, even Sanji looked perplexed by Luffy's complete and unfounded confidence in his strength, even though the guy barely knew him.

"Why do you keep saying that?" The blond asked, but the only reply he got was the sound of Luffy's laughter.

"So, do you accept?" Nami said to Sanji, ignoring the protests of her friends.

"Yes, anything for you, Nami-swan!" Sanji agreed, and Usopp's, Chopper's, and Franky's jaws dropped to the ground.

"Did you not hear a word we just said?" Usopp yelled into Sanji's ears.

"Don't do it! Not for Nami, she's not worth it!" Chopper screamed, which resulted in him getting hit on the head by a fuming Nami.

"Nami-sis is going overboard; you don't have to entertain her requests!" Franky said, wiping tears from his eyes. "Don't fight Zoro!"

"But if you lose," Nami continued, "You…"

"TREAT US ALL TO DINNER!" Luffy shouted.

"No," Nami dismissed him with a wave of her hand, "You're gonna –"

"TREAT US ALL TO DINNER!" Luffy shouted again.

"Oh, shut up, Luffy, you're not getting that." Nami sighed. "ANYWAY, before I was so rudely interrupted… if you lose, you shall –"

"TREAT US TO DINNER!" This time, Usopp, Franky and Chopper had joined in. "And not only just dinner!" Usopp piped up.

"A home-made one is _super_!" Franky agreed enthusiastically. "Catered to all our requests," He added as an afterthought.

"Yes, I want lots of sweet stuff!" Chopper squeaked out, eyes sparkling.

"I WANT ALL THE MEAT!" Luffy bellowed. "MEAT! ALL MEAT!"

"No, Luffy, that's not healthy –" Usopp began to protest, but Luffy held a hand up.

"I introduced Sanji, so I shall decide! You'll treat us to a home-made dinner if you lose!"

"Ah, alright, just listen to the annoyingly stubborn one…" Nami let out a deep exasperated sigh. "I don't have the energy to quarrel with him anymore."

"I'm okay with that," Sanji smiled, "But I'm just saying this beforehand. I'm not gonna lose, so don't expect much."

"Zoro's _really_ strong," Chopper informed.

"And you don't seem strong _at all_. No offence, curly-bro," Franky agreed. "You should see him fight. Even _without_ his three swords, he's like a fighting demon or something. But _with_ his three swords, the _only_ person I saw him lose to was freckles-bro."

"Yes! Ace is awesome!" Luffy bounced up and down on his feet, beaming widely. "Ace is really awesome! I never could win him in any fights!"

"As shocking as it seems," Usopp told Sanji, "Luffy's actually quite the fighter. He jumps around and flails around a lot, so maybe that's part of his strategy. Anyway, it's almost impossible to win Zoro." Usopp shook his head. "I hope you won't take it too hard, but it's the truth."

"I'll know it when I see it," Sanji answered irritably. He was annoyed that they all seemed to look down on him, but then again, he understood their reasoning. Fighters were often bulky and muscular, and he was neither. "Anyway, who's Ace? You've been mentioning the guy quite a lot."

"Oh! Ace should be somewhere around the school right now too!" Luffy began screaming for Ace to come out, and Nami shook her head.

"There he goes again," She sighed. "I bet Luffy's told you about Shanks. Well, besides Shanks, the only person Luffy can't seem to get enough of is Ace. I don't even know why. Ace's a year older, by the way."

"Luffy's really upset now that Ace isn't hanging out with us that much anymore," Chopper clarified. "I mean, Ace has always been quite popular around the school, but it's only until about a few months ago that he had gotten a girlfriend!"

"Yeah, that girl is really pretty," Franky nodded his head. "And she's _super_ nice too! Of course, she's not as pretty as Hancock –"

"Oh, oh, oh! Do you know about the Hancock incident?" Chopper interrupted enthusiastically.

"I don't even _know_ who Hancock is," Sanji told them, "And how can there be someone prettier than Nami-swan! If there is, that must completely be a miracle!" Usopp laughed at Sanji's exaggeration.

"Well, if you ever thought Nami was pretty, think again. Hancock's the prettiest girl in the school – _supposedly_." Usopp laughed, "She's in our year, but unfortunately not in our class."

"Usopp doesn't think that Hancock's the prettiest because we all know that he's eyeing on _Kaya_ ~" Nami sang-song loudly, "He's been chasing her for _years_, and she's just entertaining him for the sake of it. If I were her, I'd have long gotten rid of him."

"O-Oi, Nami, don't go about leaking people's secrets – and I haven't been chasing her for years! I have never chased after her! I just –"

"Ooh, what's that? You _don't_ like her? You _haven't_ been chasing after her?" Nami teased, and Usopp flushed red.

"I – h-hey, we haven't told him about the Hancock incident!" Usopp changed the topic in a fluster. Meanwhile, Luffy was still screaming for Ace.

"SANJI, LOOK!" Chopper yelled, grabbing Sanji by his finger and pulling him to the right, "That's Hancock!"

The most beautiful girl Sanji had ever seen walked past, her skin a pale ivory, her hair a deep, lustrous black that seemed to flow like liquid behind her as she moved. Her eyes were like molten chocolate – rich and sweet, seemingly able to penetrate into one's very soul. In one fluid motion, she turned, her strong gaze fixed momentarily onto Sanji's cool blue eyes, but it soon left his gaze as she looked around near him for something.

"Thank God Luffy's run off somewhere to find Ace…" Usopp hissed in Sanji's ear. "Hey, you hear me?" He hissed again when Sanji didn't reply.

Sanji stood there, transfixed, his mind in a whirlpool of mess. She looked… breathtakingly stunning, of course but… there was something in her eyes that he caught, a glint of something that he recognized so well.

"Hey, she's gone!" Chopper yelled, and Sanji jumped. "I can't believe she was so pretty that you were _petrified_!"

"A-Ah, yes… I can't believe there's someone prettier than Nami-swan!" Sanji shouted, but his mind was elsewhere. There was something off about the girl. He knew it instantly. It was that familiar glint in her eyes, one that he had always seen when he was younger. So often was it mirrored on his own face, his own expression, that seeing the look on another's face felt alarming and disconcerting. Sanji shook his head. He wouldn't go back there.

He was here to make a new living, wasn't he?

"Let's tell him about the Hancock incident!" Usopp said, "Okay, so it's really funny…" Sanji finally looked up, and forced a grin as he folded his arms across his chest.

"Let's hear it, then," Sanji told them.

"Basically…" Usopp began. "It happened…"

"It happened about half a year ago," Chopper interjected, "Where Zoro had challenged Ace to a battle, since Luffy was always non-stop praising Ace and his brilliant fighting skills," Usopp looked defiant at the fact that he had been interrupted, but nobody cared.

Franky laughed, "Freckles-bro really is a _super_ fighter!"

"AND," Usopp jumped at the opportunity to continue the story, "Many girls watched the fight for Ace. I mean, some girls were there for Zoro, but y'know, he's really scary sometimes, and most girls dare not speak to him. Ace, however, is really friendly and nice, so he garnered more 'fans' over time, not that he's ever happy about it, he pretty much doesn't care, actually…"

"So Hancock, who is still the most popular girl in school at that time, was curious," Nami suddenly joined in the conversation, "Because plenty of guys chased after her, but she had never seen or heard of Ace before. So she –"

"So she," Usopp tried to interrupt, but Nami gave him a smothering glare. Usopp backed down instantaneously.

"_So_ she decided to find out who Ace was. That time, Luffy was with Ace outside the toilet, but she didn't see Ace. Based on the description, she thought Luffy was Ace, and so she did her usual flip-hair-lock-eyes thing that usually gets all the guys hyped up…"

"Some people even gave a name for that action!" Chopper squealed, "The 'Seduction' trick, even though she never does it on purpose!"

"Yes, that 'Seduction' trick," Nami affirmed, "And Luffy apparently just blankly stared at her and said…"

"Wait, let me do this one, Nami-sis!" Franky laughed. "I've always wanted to do this! It's _super_ awesome!"

"Yeah, I'll be Hancock!" Usopp piped in. "Okay…" He took a deep breath, and then he turned his back to face Franky. Usopp flipped his curly mane and turned his head slightly to face Franky so that only his side profile was seen, and then his eyes, which were slightly closed in an attempt to be _seductive_, met Franky's.

Beside them, Chopper's face was red from trying to stifle his giggles, and Nami was not even trying to hide her laughter. She was laughing loudly even before Usopp had turned around. Sanji was laughing too at the awkwardness of the entire situation, and especially at the fact that Usopp and Franky were too immersed in their own acting to realize what was going on.

"Oh, Hancock, hi," Franky said, imitating Luffy. "Girl toilet's upstairs. I thought only _I_ mixed that up."

Immediately following that statement, the whole gang of them burst out in laughter.

"Eh, what, what, what..? Did I miss some joke?" Luffy stumbled upon the scene, a perplexed expression etched on his face. "What's this? Oi, someone tell me what's going on!" Luffy whined, but the moment they caught sight of Luffy's face, they burst out laughing again.

When they had finally calmed down, they continued their explanation. "So since Luffy was the first person to treat Hancock like that – like a _normal_ student – she became utterly smitten with him."

"She thought that his name was Ace for a month, until someone finally corrected her," Nami laughed. "And Luffy and Ace had _no idea_ what was going on! When Hancock thought that Luffy's name was Ace, and heard that 'Ace' had a girlfriend, she was so mad!"

"She kept going about Vivi's locker and glaring at her, didn't she?" Usopp added, "Vivi was so frustrated, because if Hancock wasn't there keeping an eye on her, it'd be her group of lackeys. Granted, they didn't do anything to her, but they made her feel _extremely_ uncomfortable."

"Hey, you all, don't leave me out!" Luffy complained, pouting. "I finally came back, and now you're ignoring me!"

"Oh, straw-hat-bro! Sorry, didn't see you, too busy re-enacting…"

"The 'Hancock' incident'," All four of them (Usopp, Nami, Sanji and Chopper) said at the same time, and then burst out laughing again.

"Hey!" Luffy protested again.

...

"Zoro, we found a new competitor for you! We bet on your winning, so you'd better not lose!" Luffy grinned. The man, who was heavily-muscled with cropped short green hair, turned around, smirking.

"A competitor..? Is he any good?" He asked.

"Well, he's on the other side of the ring preparing now," Usopp answered nervously, "I don't know, Luffy said he was strong…" The long-nosed teen thought briefly about Sanji's lean physique, and sighed. "I don't know."

"Maybe he's like an acrobat!" Chopper piped up. "I mean, he's really lean and all, and he's got long limbs!"

"Sanji, is it?" A new voice piped up from behind. The four of them turn around, with Luffy breaking into a huge grin.

"Robin!" He laughed. The older female smiled back, her olive skin looking even darker under the dim lighting. Her enigmatic, piercing deep blue gaze fixed themselves on Zoro.

"He's quite a mystery." She told him. Zoro frowned.

"A mystery..? That shouldn't be something you can't solve," He answered, and Robin chuckled.

"But since he's our new friend, I don't think it's right for me to go checking up on him," Robin replied smoothly. "Besides… it's really… _curious_."

"As in..?" Usopp asked, intrigued. Anything that caught Robin's interest was worth knowing about.

"He's similar to Nami in the sense that his parents died when he was younger," Robin frowned, "And it said that this man took ownership of him when he was 10. The weird thing is, between his ages of 6 to 10, there's a complete void. There's nothing on where he was at that point in time, whether or not in the orphanage, which should have records of such information. In fact, he was never recorded to have entered an orphanage."

"Hm…" Luffy cringed his eyebrows, "So it's a mystery Sanji."

"Ah, well, Sanji will tell us if he feels like it," Usopp answered simply. "Anyway, Zoro, if you win this guy, we'll all be getting a dinner treat."

"Yes, Zoro, _please_ win!" Luffy begged, his eyes already sparkling with the promise of meat. "I want to eat lots and lots of meat!"

"… Like I said, Luffy, that isn't really healthy –"

"Wait a second," Zoro interrupted, "So this guy… he's new? You want me to beat up a _new_ student? That really isn't too friendly, is it?"

"Well, he accepted it…" Chopper shrugged. "Because of Nami…"

"What has that witch done now?" Zoro laughed. "She's always getting me funny competitors. Remember that one time, she even got _Usopp_ to fight me!"

"H-Hey, it was behind my Sogeking mask!" The man protested.

"Yeah, well, _only_ Luffy and Chopper couldn't recognise you," Zoro retorted.

"W-W-Well, that's because I usually keep my insanely brilliant shooting skills under wraps! You don't know how much trouble I would get otherwise!" Usopp shook his head solemnly, "I have stepped out of the pugilistic world in order to avoid further conflicts… if anyone were to know that the almighty Sogeking was still alive! Everyone would be in danger! And of course, it is only I who can save them…"

"Wow, Usopp, really..? You are that amazing?" Chopper was sitting on Usopp's shoulder, fervently admiring the long-nosed man. Usopp nodded his head.

"Ah, well, Zoro, it's time for us to go," Luffy said. "The competition's gonna start soon, and I can't wait!"

"I'll give you a good performance," Zoro answered, dismissing them with a wave of a hand. "Don't worry."

"You'll never let us down!" Luffy agreed, and with that, they left the waiting room noisily.

...

"Yo, curly-bro, you really up for this?" Franky asked, downing a cola in one gulp.

"Who're you calling 'curly-bro'?" Sanji hissed, but he wasn't really angry. He was stretching his legs as he grinned at Nami, "I'll win for you, Nami-swan!"

"Ah, well, I sure hope so," Nami sighed. "Then Zoro will finally be appeased… or not. No matter, it'll be good for Zoro to experience defeat once again."

"Only Ace has won him before?" Sanji asked, and the caramel-haired girl nodded her head. "That's… interesting."

"Hey everybody!" An emcee appeared in the centre of the ring, grinning widely. "I'm the emcee for today, Johnny! Finally, another person has appeared to challenge the man with the nickname of a 'demon hunter', Roronoa Zoro!" The man yelled into the crowd, "With me, there's the referee, Yosaku! Of course, we're known as the infamous Yosaku and Johnny duo!"

"I've never heard of them," Franky commented, and Nami laughed.

"Well, they made themselves the emcee and referee of all Zoro's matches," Nami shrugged. "I don't know who they are, but I know that they are the same age as Ace."

"Let us cheer…" Johnny continued, shouting through the loud chattering of the crowd. Sanji had to admit he was shocked. He didn't expect such a large number of people to turn up for this impromptu after-school fighting competition. In fact, he had expected there to be nobody at all. This Zoro guy was more famous than he had expected. "For Roronoa Zoro, the swordsman who fights with three swords, the demon hunter!"

The loud ovation and cheers from the audience drowned out Johnny's words as a green-haired man walked out from the side of the ring, with an over-enthusiastic boy screaming at the top of his lungs and a tan-skinned, dark-haired woman standing calmly beside the overzealous Luffy. Sanji widened his eyes slightly in surprise – the head of green hair that he had seen… _wasn't_ from his imagination? He laughed.

"So _that's_ Roronoa Zoro?" He asked Nami. The girl nodded her head.

"He's really strong, even without his three swords, you'll see. The only person he ever fought with his three swords was Ace, because only Ace was worth him going all out." Nami replied. "I don't think he'll go too harsh on you, so don't worry."

"Please do not underestimate me, Nami-san," Sanji answered, his blue gaze fixed on Zoro. "I'm not as weak as you think. Watch me."

"And now, let's give it up for the new student, Sanji!" The crowd clapped, but not too enthusiastically. When Sanji entered the ring, he could hear the crowd jeering.

"What? Someone like _that_..? He doesn't even have muscles! Get off the ring!"

"You're gonna get murdered!"

"Tch, I'm being underestimated," Sanji said under his breath. Zoro eyed the new student curiously. That man… didn't look strong _at all_. Zoro frowned. Luffy said that Sanji was strong, didn't he? So… he had to be strong. But no matter how much Zoro looked, he couldn't see even an ounce of willpower or determination in the man's slouched posture and heavy-lidded eyes.

"You sure you wanna do this?" Zoro called out to Sanji. "I can beat you in just a punch."

"You may want to reconsider your words," Sanji replied smoothly. Zoro merely laughed.

"I hope you'll be able to keep your words then," He replied, his eyes glinting. Meanwhile, the audience were still screaming at Sanji to go off the stage, but the blond didn't seem to care. "Hm, maybe I should give you a handicap? I told Luffy I'll make it interesting… why not I blindfold myself, huh?" Zoro was belittling the guy. No matter what Luffy claimed, he couldn't believe that the thin lanky body of Sanji's could be enough to be on par with him, much less defeat him.

Sanji let out a deep sigh. He was getting undermined, again and again. Why did everyone need to judge a book by its cover? He didn't care, however, until he heard Zoro's sarcastic words. He looked up at Zoro, meeting his gaze steadily, his eyes narrowed. He lifted up his hand and…

Flipped Zoro off.

"Oh! What has Sanji done now?" Johnny said into the microphone in utter shock. "I can't believe he has the guts to give Zoro _the finger_!" Zoro surged with fury and a tinge of excitement, and he smirked at the blond.

"Let us begin," He growled.

...

AND YES, please do review! It will be much appreciated :D


	2. Fight to Friendship

Thanks so much for the reviews/follows/favorites! :D It's really appreciated. So this is the next chapter, do enjoy!

Disclaimer: One Piece does not belong to me. No matter how much I hope it does... that only happens in my dreams. Unfortunately.

**Chapter 2 || Fight to Friendship**

The two of them stared at each other, not moving, even after Yosaku had given the signal to start. Tension between the two heightened as they glowered at each other, bright, twinkling blue eyes meeting the coal black ones. Sanji's slouched posture remained unchanged, his hands tucked casually into his pockets, but there was an unmistakeable fiery aura that burst out of him as he eyed the green-haired swordsman. Zoro was smirking, but he was shocked that the man had the guts to _flip him off_. He glowered at the man, his fists clenched. The blond was intriguing… but annoying. A pest, basically, that was what the blond was. He'd defeat him easily.

He made his move first, closing the gap between them in three quick strides, "Not planning to use your hands? Or afraid to break your arm..?" He hissed under his breath as he levelled a fist to Sanji's face, but he did not move to punch the blond. "You can still consider the handicap, y'know."

"Tch," The blond smiled, "I said I'll make you eat your words, didn't I?" Before Zoro knew it, before he even had the chance to dodge, the blond swiped his leg upwards, kicking Zoro's arm away from his face. The audience gasped in unison, and Zoro blinked his eyes. He didn't even catch the movement! The blond moved so swiftly, that at the time where he was disrupted by taunts, he hadn't even noticed the slight movement of posture of the blond. He was tricky, Zoro decided, but his instincts told him that the blond was more than that.

The blond could actually be _strong_.

"Huh, I can give you a break for your money," Zoro told the blond, swiftly launching a punch to the blond's torso. Agilely, the blond ducked, and then swiped his leg under Zoro's feet. Zoro jumped backwards to avoid it, and then used his left hand to grab Sanji's right arm, twisting it behind the blond's back. Sanji did a one-handed handstand with his left hand and launched a kick at Zoro's head, and the green-headed swordsman moved to duck, releasing the grip he had on Sanji's arm.

"You really think so?" Sanji answered, completely unruffled. The crowd was watching the fight with unbridled surprise and intrigue. They knew immediately that they had been wrong from the start. Sanji _was_ good, perhaps even good enough to be on par with Zoro's own skills. "Why not take out those swords you're so well-known for? You're not going to match with me just like this."

"What do you mean?" Zoro growled. Sanji shrugged.

"This is just a routine warm-up for me." The blond answered nonchalantly. He wasn't being taunting, nor was he being sarcastic. It was simply the truth. The green-haired swordsman smirked, and then tied a bandana on his head.

"I'm ready." Zoro said.

"Zoro's wearing his bandana! He only wore it for a few competitors who were really strong, didn't he?" Usopp hissed. "So Sanji _was_ strong!"

"He _does_ have technique," Robin commented. "I wonder why he keeps his hands tucked into his pockets…"

"Maybe he has some kind of awesome secret technique!" Chopper squealed, "Oh, I can't wait to see it! He's quite good! I can't believe I ever doubted him!"

Nami was watching the fight with shock, "Sanji's… pretty good…" She found herself muttering, and Franky nodded his head.

"Curly-bro's doing quite well so far! I can tell swordsman-bro is _super_ shocked!" Franky agreed.

"Zoro, go all out! Win! I want my meat!" Luffy screamed, but the swordsman did not bother to even cast a glance at Luffy's direction.

"A mere warm-up..?" Zoro answered, "I'm gonna make you take your stupid hands out of your pockets."

"You can't," Sanji stated firmly. "Use your swords," He replied.

"If you use your hands, I will use my swords," The swordsman answered, and Sanji smiled.

"I don't use my hands to fight. I never use my hands to fight, and I will _never_ use my hands to fight even if I die. You can give up the thought of that." Sanji replied honestly. Zoro frowned, eyeing the blond curiously. He wasn't lying, he could tell, but why would he say that?

"You'd rather die, than use your hands to fight?" Zoro asked.

"I don't care if I die. I won't use my hands to defend myself." Sanji said, "What about your swords? Are you never gonna use it?"

The green-haired swordsman smirked, "I like your attitude. Let's see if you can get a few shots in. I'll give you an honourable defeat."

"I'll get more than just a few shots in," The blond drawled, "And you'll use your swords. _I'll_defeat you honourably." He smirked back at the swordsman, and then moved quickly to the swordsman, kicking at the space where the swordsman's head was at a few seconds ago. Swiftly, the swordsman moved behind Sanji and kicked at Sanji's leg, but the blond moved too fast. Before Zoro knew it, the blond had landed safely to the side of Zoro, and thrust a kick at Zoro. Zoro couldn't dodge in time, and blocked the blond's kick with his hands. He pushed the blond's leg away from him, and hastily retreated a few steps. He allowed his eyes to close for a second, and took a deep breath. He could almost feel his katanas in his hands...

If the blond dodged this attack, he'd use his swords.

He sensed a slight movement from the blond's direction, and he tilted his head to the side just as the blond swiped a kick at him. It missed. The audience gasped audibly, but Zoro still had his eyes closed. He needed to focus.

"Mutouryuu (No swords style)," He muttered under his breath softly, concentrating hard. Finally, he felt it. His eyes snapped open, "Onigiri!" Using his two hands, he slashed at the air. Instantaneously, the air shot towards the blond as though in a blast. Sanji widened his eyes in surprise - the swordsman hadn't done anything but swipe at the air! - but dodged reflexively, landing smoothly on the ground with a backflip. Zoro smirked.

"I'll use my swords," Zoro decided, "You're an interesting opponent."

"Oh, _thank you_," Sanji said sarcastically. "It took you this long to realize, huh?" But still, he was rattled. Zoro... was using a swords technique without his swords. It was _interesting_.

Zoro grabbed his two swords, with Wado Ichimonji, his prized possession, safely tucked away. "I can't use that one on you. I won't." He said in regard to Sanji's questioning gaze. Sanji shrugged. With his swords held firmly in his hands, Zoro felt more alert and focused. It had always been the case. He was a _swordsman_, so he was meant to fight with swords. He could do well in physical fights, but his swords were his main method of attacking. "You'll regret this."

"I'm sure I won't," The blond retorted.

"His swords, Zoro's using swords!" Usopp stated excitedly. "Wow, Sanji must be pretty good!"

"Sanji's an intriguing opponent, I guess," Robin said. "He only uses his legs, yet he's able to hit Zoro. Zoro must be quite stunned."

"See, told ya Sanji's strong!" Luffy laughed. "Zoro must be so happy!"

"Yeah, I'm sure he is. I never could understand his thirst for good competitors anyway," Nami sighed. "Sanji-kun's better than expected."

"All of us are shocked, Nami-sis," Franky said.

"Hey, why did nobody invite me here?" A new voice piped up, and everybody turned to the direction where the voice came from. A guy was standing behind them, with slightly tousled raven hair and a sprinkle of freckles across his nose. He smiled brightly at them, "Hey guys," He greeted with a slight wave of a hand.

"Ace!" Luffy yelled. Competition now forgotten, he launched himself at the older male, wrapping his arms around the man's neck and hugging him tightly. "I was looking for you just now!" He said. His grin, too wide for his face, widened - if that was even possible. His eyes sparkled, and Luffy seemed to even radiate _joy_. A few people in the audience looked in their direction curiously, but most weren't surprised by Luffy's enthusiasm.

Ace broke away from the hug and laughed, "Oh, really? When..?"

"During break!" Luffy replied gaily, "I couldn't find you anywhere!"

"Oh…" Ace laughed, "I kinda ditched lessons, so…"

"Without us..?" Usopp interjected. "Where did you go?"

"I went out to get some ice-cream for Vivi," Ace gave a lopsided grin, a slightly sheepish expression on his face, "And took the chance to get out of some boring lessons."

"Why didn't you call us?" Luffy whined, pouting. "Why didn't you get me ice-cream too? I want to eat ice-cream!"

"We can go afterwards, alright?" Ace said. "We should watch the fight for now. Zoro will be pissed if you don't," Ace laughed. "Who's the blond guy?"

"That's Sanji," Nami informed, "A new student, and Luffy's new seating partner. Despite his looks, he is quite strong."

"Yeah, I can tell. Zoro's using his swords," Ace observed.

"Curly-bro's holding up really well on his end! The winning chances are now 50-50!" Franky noted, "It's _super_ amazing! I never expected him to be able to fight!"

"Indeed, it is unexpected," Robin agreed, but didn't elaborate.

"Sanji and Zoro's fight is gonna get even more exciting!" Chopper squeaked, his voice even higher than usual due to his excitement. "I can't wait! Not that I like to see fights… I always have to patch Zoro up afterwards…"

"Well, you are well-versed in medicine, so who else to ask?" Ace teased, knowing the exact reaction Chopper would give…

"I don't like it if you praise me, you idiot!" Chopper denied, blushing furiously. The rest of them laughed, but focused their attention back on the ring.

Zoro tightened his grip on the hilts of the swords, his legs slightly bent. In the speed of light, he rushed towards Sanji and swung both swords. Sanji jumped hastily to avoid it, but Zoro swiped at the air, causing Sanji to do a back-flip to avoid the blade. Zoro smirked. Finally the blond seemed to exert more of his energy into the battle. Without giving a moment of break, Zoro surged forwards again, slicing the air as Sanji dodged reflexively. Immediately after, a leg shot upwards, but instead of dodging, Zoro seized the opportunity to use the back of his blade to attack the leg that was threatening to hit him. This time, he knew he didn't miss.

Sanji jumped backwards again, rubbing his right leg. Zoro merely grazed the leg, but he managed a hit. He smirked at Sanji. "You're getting out of breath."

"Who says?" The blond answered, panting slightly. The swordsman's speed had improved so much upon taking hold of his two swords that the blond could barely keep up. He frowned. He did two forward flips, landing gracefully in front of the green-headed man, and then quickly kicked at the man's face. Zoro dodged easily and ducked below Sanji's feet, using the chance to attack the blond's torso. The blond moved backwards, and Zoro took the opportunity to swipe at Sanji's head. However, his attack was inhibited by the force of Sanji's kick, and Zoro felt his arm jar with a slight pain. He gritted his teeth, and ran forwards once more.

Sanji did a handstand, and then spun around, his kicks flying all over the place. Zoro had to keep jumping to avoid the kicks, but he couldn't help but get grazed by some attacks. When Sanji had stopped, Zoro quickly launched an attack at the man's arm when the blond was trying to regain his balance.

"Urgh," Sanji groaned, but he didn't take his hands out of his pockets. A few droplets of blood soaked through his white uniform, and he glared at the swordsman. Zoro was covered in multiple bruises, all a deep blue-black, while Sanji sported cuts on his arm and leg.

"Wow, they really are on par with one another," Nami commented, and Usopp and Ace nodded their heads in approval. "This battle will never end."

"Zoro, I want my meat!" Luffy yelled again, and Nami and Usopp both hit him on the top of his head. "What~?" Luffy complained, rubbing his sore head dejectedly.

"If they continue, this battle will never end, and they'd only be covered in more injuries." Chopper told Luffy sternly. "Stop the fight!"

"But Zoro will kill us!" Usopp protested.

"I think we should give them a bit more time." Robin answered calmly, "Let's wait until they've exerted all of their energy. They are already exhausted by their fight, look." The duo was panting hard, and Sanji's hair stuck to his face, dripping with perspiration. Meanwhile, Zoro's uniform was soaked through with his own perspiration.

"Let's listen to Robin," Nami said, "She knows best." Robin chuckled at the orange-haired girl's statement.

The battle continued on, with the both of them equally managing to attack the other. Finally, they both stood at the end of the ring, glowering at each other, perspiration dripping off them onto the ground. They were exhausted, their energy was completely drained out, but still, there was no sign of victory from either side.

"What an exhausting, tiring battle, with no victory to be seen!" Johnny shouted into the microphone, "Let us cheer for the two equally strong competitors!"

"What are you doing?" Zoro shouted. Johnny looked confused.

"The fight's been going on for an hour… we're stopping it –"

"Who said you could?" Sanji answered.

"But –"

"_I_ said so," Robin spoke up from the crowd.

"Robin-sensei…" Murmurings broke out in the audience.

"Robin," Zoro acknowledged.

"… You look absolutely captivating, Robin-chwan! Of course, if you wish to stop the competition, I will listen to you!" Sanji jumped off the ring, one knee on the ground as he looked up at Robin with heart-shaped eyes. Zoro widened his eyes in disbelief at the unbelievable actions of the blond.

"What the _hell_?" He uttered, and Nami laughed.

"We realized he was kind of a… weird pervert." Usopp shrugged, leading Zoro off the ring. "Let's get Chopper to look at those bruises…"

"He needs some antiseptic cream, that's all," Chopper said, already by Zoro's side with a first-aid kit. He squeezed a thick yellow paste out and began rubbing it all over Zoro's wounds. "Sanji was unexpectedly good, wasn't he?"

"… Yeah," Zoro admitted, and broke into a grin. "I can't believe such a skinny guy got me so worked up. He's Luffy's new friend?"

"Yeah," Nami nodded her head, and Zoro smirked.

"This will be interesting."

"Robin-chwan, how did you find the fight –?"

"Please do not call me such weird names in the school compounds," Robin interjected sternly, "Teachers aren't meant to mingle with students."

"Anything you say, Robin-_sensei_!" Sanji gave her a wide smile as Luffy bounded over to him.

"We're still gonna get a treat right? You didn't win, so you lost, so you're treating, right?" Luffy bombarded the blond with questions, but Franky shooed the overzealous brunette away.

"This is freckles-bro, or Ace," Franky introduced, and Ace patted Sanji on the back, grinning widely.

"Sanji, right..? You were awesome up there." The older male said. Sanji gave the male a curt nod, and then returned to lavishing all his attention on Robin. Franky and Ace laughed, and Chopper rushed over to treat Sanji's wounds.

"So who won, eh?" Luffy asked Nami. "_Ne_, Nami… I want my feast! Zoro won, right?"

Nami frowned, and then sat beside Sanji, batting her eyelashes at the blond, "Sanji-_kun_," She said, smiling at the blond, "You're still going to treat us, right?"

"Whatever you say, Nami-swan!" He agreed easily, jumping up to his feet, to Chopper's dismay.

"Sit down; I'm trying to help you!" Chopper shouted, but the blond didn't heed Chopper's advice. "If you don't want me to treat you, then don't get injured!" The reindeer yelled, finally managing to get Sanji to sit down again as he continued to bandage Sanji's cuts.

"Hey, it was a good competition," Zoro said, walking towards the blond, his hand out. The blond eyed the man's calloused hand, and then hesitantly shook it. "Didn't expect such a skinny guy to be able to fight," He added, and the blond glared at him.

"Watch what you say, you shitty _marimo_," He retorted. Zoro's eyes widened in surprise as he pulled his hand away from the handshake.

The swordsman narrowed his eyes at Sanji, "What did you say, you _dartboard brow_?" He hissed menacingly. Sanji shot up to his feet, and the both of them glowered at each other, tension rising once more.

"Hey, enough is enough, do you hear me!" Nami shouted, and immediately Sanji broke away from the marimo's glower.

"Yes ~ Mellorine!"

"What is _mellorine_?" Usopp asked in a hushed whisper, and Nami shrugged.

"Something weird, that's for sure," Chopper said, nodding his head gravely.

"Hahahahaha, Zoro has become a _marimo_, hahahahahaha," Luffy laughed good-naturedly, and Zoro glared at Luffy.

"Shut up," Zoro growled, but it only served to make Luffy laugh harder.

"And what on earth is a dartboard brow?" Ace guffawed loudly, much to Sanji's expense. Sanji turned his attention to Zoro, who was eyeing him with a mutinous look.

Before anyone knew it, the two of them broke out in a fight again.

"Oh man, why do I have a feeling this is always gonna happen from now on?" Usopp asked. Robin chuckled.

"I think you're right," Robin said as Nami sighed deeply.

"We already have enough stupidity in Luffy, why must we also have two loggerheads?" Nami shook her head sadly. "Life is gonna get more difficult for us all…"

"Nope, it won't!" Luffy grinned, "Because Sanji's gonna treat us! MEAT!"

...

"And welcome, to my humble abode," Sanji said, opening the doors to his house wide.

"You live by yourself?" Nami asked, and the blond nodded his head. "Wow… such a lavish apartment… all to yourself."

"The old man Zeff was adamant about getting me my own apartment," Sanji shrugged. Behind him, Robin smiled in her usual mysterious way, carefully filing the name 'Zeff' in her mind. "Anyway, why is this stupid marimo tagging along?"

"He's one of us!" Luffy grinned, while Zoro glared daggers at the cook. "When we said a feast for all of us, of course Zoro's included!"

"I'm not really interested in getting a feast by this dartboard-brow," Zoro answered, "I mean, he'd probably poison us all, and Chopper's got enough work on his hands already."

"You should know better than underestimate me," Sanji answered calmly, fishing a cigarette from his pocket.

"S-Sanji, you smoke?" Usopp widened his eyes in disbelief. "But… you're only 19… like the rest of us!"

"Oh, right, I'm not supposed to smoke," Sanji let out a deep sigh, placing his cigarette back into his pocket dejectedly. "Especially if there's a sensei around," He cast Robin a lovesick glance. "I'll do anything for Robin-chwan!"

"I didn't say anything," The teacher answered with a smile.

"Hey, bad news," Franky said, "Brook can't make it because of a performance, and Ace's with Vivi. It's only us, then."

"Ace's with Vivi? He could bring her along!" Luffy whined, completely ignoring the part about Brook.

"Brook's always performing anyway," Chopper told Sanji, "So he's pretty often not with us. Well, he's quite old anyway… he's probably more than twice – no, _thrice_! – of our age!"

"Well, I was hoping for more, since the more the merrier… anyway, it doesn't matter! Come on in, don't stand outside there!" Sanji invited, warmly gesturing for Nami and Robin to enter first. The two girls stepped into the house, to find themselves staring at a spotlessly clean apartment. The walls were painted a calming sea-blue, and at the very edge of the walls, there was a painting of birds – falcons – with their wings spread wide as they cut across the blues of the walls. On walking through the door, they found themselves standing in the living room. It was spacious and clean, a wide-screen television attacked to the wall. In front of the television was a sleek rectangular coffee table, with nothing on top of it except for a couple of unopened letters and a coaster. Facing the television was a clean white sofa, and beside it, looking terribly out-of-place, was a fluffy bright red plush chair.

"Ah, Zeff wanted me to have the plush chair… to remind me of home, or something like that," The blond ran his fingers through his hair, slightly embarrassed.

"It looks cute," Nami commented, while Luffy brightened up upon seeing the plush chair.

"I like the red chair! Everything else is so clean!" He yelled, jumping onto the chair. Chopper jumped onto the chair too, squeezing beside Luffy.

"I like the chair too! It's so fluffy and comfy!" Chopper laughed.

"Make yourself at home," Sanji said, as the rest of them took a seat on the sofa, leaving only Zoro standing awkwardly by the door. Sanji sighed. "Marimo, even though I don't want you here, it doesn't mean you can't come in. If you're Luffy's friend, you're a friend of mine too," He said, walking to the door and pulling Zoro in by the hand. The swordsman looked more than just a little disgruntled, by the blond ignored it. With one final push, he managed to get the marimo to sit beside Usopp. "Okay, now… what do you want me to cook?"

"Hm… anything..?" Nami asked.

"Of course, for Nami-swan, anything is possible! I will fly to the heavens if that's your very command!" Sanji proclaimed, his eyes forming hearts once again as. Nami laughed. "I'll have… a tangerine milkshake."

"Tangerine…" Sanji paused, "I do have some at home." He grinned. "Anything else?"

"MEAT, LOTS OF MEAT!" Luffy demanded.

"Any specifics as to what meat you want to eat?" Sanji asked. Luffy shook his head.

"AS LONG AS IT'S MEAT THAT IS DELICIOUS!" Luffy yelled, and Sanji laughed, nodding his head as he recorded down what Luffy wanted onto a notepad.

"Hm… I want stir-fried bean sprouts!" Usopp said, "A huge plate of it, please!"

"I don't know if you can make this… it's kind of a specialty from where I was from…" Chopper said uncertainly. Sanji raised an eyebrow, as though saying 'Try me'. "Um… a poutine..?"

Instead of looking stunned and confused like Chopper expected, Sanji broke into a huge grin. "No problem, little reindeer."

"You know what that is?" Chopper gaped.

"Yeah, I have come across quite a lot of food before." Sanji replied easily.

"Are you a cook or something?" Franky asked, "Because curly-bro, you sure seem confident in your cooking skills."

"I cook, but I'm not a cook," Sanji corrected, grinning. "So yeah, I'm pretty confident in my cooking skills."

"I want rice balls," Zoro suddenly said.

"Marimo wants rice balls, check," He said, jotting it down in his notebook.

"I want a _super_ hamburger, matched with potato wedges!" Franky yelled.

"I would like grilled fish, please," Robin said.

"Yes ~ Robin-chwan!"

"I'll add a few more of my own dishes to the spread," Sanji told them, "It'll be ready soon! You can watch the television, or do anything you like in the mean time, just don't enter my bedroom."

"Which is your bedroom?" Luffy asked.

"The one that you're not supposed to enter," Sanji answered evasively, "Just don't leave the living room," He added as an afterthought, walking to the kitchen. His fingers hesitated for a moment as he was about to close the door, and then he let out a sigh, deciding to leave the kitchen door open instead.

"Hm… what shall we do..?" Luffy said. "I know! Let's call Ace to show him how much he's missing!"

"Luffy, you need to get it into your head that Ace now has a girlfriend, so you can't keep pestering him like you used to." Nami said to Luffy, not unkindly.

"B-But Ace will miss us!" Luffy said in a fluster, but under Nami's sharp gaze he turned away. "Okay… let's do something else…" He agreed unhappily.

"Only Nami-sis can keep Luffy in check," Franky proclaimed loudly, and Nami laughed.

"Ah, the only one with enough control to _actually_ take care of Luffy's antics is Robin. Just one shake of a head, and Luffy would obediently listen." Nami denied. Robin merely chuckled.

"I _am_ a sensei. It would be dishonourable if my students didn't listen to me, wouldn't?" She answered shrewdly.

"I KNOW WHAT TO DO!" Luffy suddenly shouted, jumping to his feet. "Let's play '_Dare or Double Dare'_!" Luffy suggested, smiling brightly. "We're in a new place, so we must have adventures! Let's play! Let's play!"

"Robin…" Nami turned to look at the older female, who smiled and shook her head sadly at her.

"I'm afraid I've never managed to keep Luffy in check when it came to '_adventures'_," She told Nami, who had known all along but still carried hope anyway. Nami let out a deep sigh.

"I guess we have to accommodate him," She said.

"Yay, adventures!" Usopp and Chopper joined Luffy in a merry little dance, with Franky strumming away sentimentally on a guitar, and Zoro sitting at the edge of the sofa, looking supremely bored.

"Okay, everybody, let's sit in a circle on the ground!" Luffy commanded.

"Aye!" Franky, Chopper and Usopp hastily formed a circle. Resigned to their fates, Nami, Robin and Zoro joined the circle. Luffy frowned, looking around Sanji's spotlessly clean apartment when he caught sight of an empty water bottle in the rubbish bin. Luffy grabbed the bottle and placed it in the middle of the circle.

"Everyone knows how this goes, right?" Luffy asked, in an expression of feigned seriousness. "So we spin the bottle… and the person the bottle points to has to choose between dare or double dare!"

"Who's gonna spin it first?" Chopper asked excitedly.

"Hm…" Luffy grinned, "Zoro, any suggestions?" He asked, still pretending to be serious even though he was bursting with zeal and barely-contained enthusiasm.

"Me?" Zoro was taken aback, "Eh… I guess Nami should start first, since she was the one who managed to get us this treat."

"Yosh! Nami shall start first!" Luffy laughed, handing the bottle to Nami who eyed it in disgust.

"Luffy, you fished it out of the _bin_," She accused.

"It isn't dirty!" Luffy pushed the bottle into Nami's hands. "Quick! Quick! Let's start the game already! I'm excited ~!"

"Ah, here goes nothing," Nami let out another sigh and spun the bottle. The four enthusiastic partakers of the game peered down at the bottle, their eyes sparkling with excitement, as the bottle slowly slowed down and pointed to…

"Robin!" They yelled. "Dare or double dare?" Usopp hastily asked.

"Dare," Robin answered. "I'm afraid your double dares may be too much for me."

"You should be more daring! Like me, Usopp – I have never chosen a simple 'dare' before! Always, I would choose 'double dare', and there is no dare that ever daunted me!" Usopp bragged, his head held high.

"Wow, Usopp, you always picked 'double dare', even if Luffy was the one giving it?" Chopper asked in admiration, "You're amazing!"

"Robin," Franky said, rolling the 'R' sound as he usually did when calling the sensei's name, "Let's start with something simple, shall we? I dare you to… run around the living room barking like a dog!"

"Hahahaha," Chopper, Usopp and Luffy burst out laughing. Even Zoro was smiling slightly in amusement – it'd be entertaining to see how the usually calm and composed sensei would pull this off. Meanwhile, Nami was patting Robin's back sympathetically.

"Boys," She said, "They're always so childish."

"Sure," Robin told Franky, getting up to her feet, "But this may or may not reflect in your results, _Cutty Flam_," She said sharply.

"I'm not afraid of you!" Franky said, "I've already garnered a lot of credits with my after-school work!"

"Go, Robin, go!" Luffy started a cheer, "You can do it!"

"Yes, you can do it," Nami joined in the cheers, even though she felt sad for her friend. Robin took a deep breath. She didn't like doing this, but since she was playing the game, she had to let go of her pride for now.

She got down to her knees, and began walking slowly, but proudly, around the living room, her head held high. She barked a confident, arrogant bark as she moved around the living room, before returning back to her spot in the circle.

"That… didn't go as I planned," Franky admitted. How the sensei could remain confident and composed even when barking like a dog, Franky had no clue. That was one aspect of hers that he was determined to unravel, but it proved difficult.

"You were awesome!" Nami grinned at the older female.

"I must say, I had to lower my pride to complete this dare." The sensei replied, "But I think I did well."

"You did brilliant! Look, Franky's speechless now!" Nami pointed at the blue-haired man, who was frowning slightly at the sensei. Out of all of them there, his was the only age closest to the sensei, yet he was one of the more childish one in the group. Robin shook her head, sighing.

"Okay, Robin, now you can spin the bottle!" Luffy cheered as Robin took the bottle by the neck and gave it a quick spin. The bottle spun… and pointed to Zoro. "ZORO!" Luffy yelled.

"ZORO, I know I can count on you to choose 'double dare', right?" Usopp yelled, with Chopper cheering loudly beside him. Nami and Robin were laughing at the swordsman's stunned expression – he didn't think he'd get chosen so quickly!

He grinned at them, "Okay, give me all that you've got. I choose double dare." He answered. Immediately after he said that statement, Usopp and Nami exchanged sly glances. The two of them always plotted against Zoro whenever he chose 'double dare', and so far they've managed to make him do… really ridiculously embarrassing, and dangerous things. For example, they managed to make him harass Smoker-sensei (a feat that nobody in the school dared to do… unless the person was as stupidly clueless as Luffy), and had gotten Zoro to do something Zoro would never have done if he had the choice… and that was to 'confess' to Hancock.

But Zoro was always up for a challenge, and so despite knowing that he'd land himself into deep trouble choosing 'double dare', he always went for it anyway. "Come 'ere, Nami, we've to discuss!" Usopp hissed, and Nami scooted over to him, where the two engaged in a serious discussion.

"I can do whatever you ask me to do," Zoro shrugged, lying flat on the ground with arms tucked behind his head.

"Quick!" Luffy nagged at them, "I want to quickly see Zoro's double dare~! Oh, I'm hungry~! Where's Ace~!" Luffy began yelling random things as he became more and more bored, even though barely a minute had passed.

"B-But Nami, that's way too mean! We can't pick on our newest friend just yet!" Usopp said, frowning. Nami merely laughed.

"Well, it'll just be like an initiation ceremony, won't it?" Nami said, "When Robin was first here, we used her in Zoro's double dare as well! Why can't we use Sanji this time around?"

"I guess you're right… but look! Sanji and Zoro had already established a rivalry before they knew each other, thanks to you!" Usopp protested.

"They're not _exactly_ rivals, are they?" Nami hissed, "It was just for the competition! Now, they barely know each other! C'mon, it's a great idea! I don't believe Zoro can do it!"

"Ah… okay… but you're telling it to Zoro," Usopp gave in, and a sneaky smile broke out on Nami's face.

"Zoro… your double dare is to…" She laughed.

"What?" Zoro demanded.

"Get Sanji to show us his left eye," She grinned. Zoro smirked at her. It didn't seem like a difficult challenge. It was merely showing the eye, wasn't it?

Nami nudged Usopp, "I told you – when Sanji was preparing at the ring, I tried to get him to lift up his fringe to show me his left eye, but he refused! I bet it has got something to do with that swirly brow of his!"

"Well, you weren't that close to him anyway…" Usopp said.

"BUT Zoro's not close to him either right? I think this will be the one double dare Zoro cannot accomplish!" Nami grinned.

And so the challenge was accepted.

...

Soooo... how was it? :D


	3. Simple Realization

Heyya! My exams are finally over! :DDD God this feels sooo relaxing ~~ Anyway, the official start to the main story events and such are all gonna happen soon, in probably chapter 4 I suppose.

So here's chapter 3 for you!

Disclaimer: No, I don't own One Piece. I just wish I owned some of the characters.

**Chapter 3 || Simple Realization**

"But of course you can't do the dare now…" Nami was saying, "We all want to see it! Do it during the feast!"

"Yeah, yeah," Usopp agreed, bobbing his head up and down.

"Quick, spin the bottle~! I'm bored~! I want MEAT~!" Luffy was still whining in the background. Zoro scratched his head irritably.

"Okay, I'm spinning it," He said, giving the bottle a strong spin…

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?" A blond emerged from the kitchen, just as the bottle spun out of control and went flying into the air. Before the bottle could smack straight at the blond's face though, a leg shot up, and the bottle tumbled onto the ground in defeat.

"Eh… it's not what it seems," Zoro said uncertainly, holding his hands up in a form of surrender. "H-Heh…" The blond let out a sigh.

"The food is ready," The blond said. Without invitation, Luffy had already bounded up to his feet and sprinted towards the kitchen in the speed of light. Sanji hastily ran over to the women's sides, cooing over their feminine beauty and gracefulness as he led them to the dining room. Usopp and Franky were both simultaneously laughing and patting Zoro's back as they made their own way to the dining room, and Zoro took a deep breath.

He just _had_ to keep pissing off the irate blond new student, didn't he?

Finally, he got up to his feet and joined the rest of them in the dining room.

...

"W-Wow…" The room was in a stunned silence as they took in the feast with their eyes. A huge, juicy chicken grilled to perfection was placed right in the middle, and Luffy stared upon it as though it was a god – no, it _was_ God. A plate of stir-fried bean sprouts was placed beside the chicken, the fragrance of chilli rose in the air… it was impossible to describe. Even without eating, one could feast on the delicacies prepared merely with their eyes.

"AWESOME~! SANJI, YOU'RE AWESOME!" Luffy suddenly yelled, jumping to the blond cook and hugging him tightly.

"Are you _really_ not a cook, curly-bro?" Franky asked in amazement, and Sanji let out a laugh.

"Nah, I'm not," He answered, "Please have a seat." He gestured to the two ladies. Though still flabbergasted by the meal prepared, they took their respective seats anyway, and the rest of them followed suit. Finally, Sanji was the last to sit, and he placed himself beside Luffy. He may not be a cook, but with one look he could somehow tell that Luffy was a big eater – and he had to make sure the boy _only_ ate his share, not more and not less.

"THANK YOU FOR THE FOOD!" Luffy bellowed, and then began scooping up large chunks of chicken with his bare hands, until Sanji slapped his hands away.

"Have a little decency in front of the ladies!" He snapped. Luffy pouted at him sadly, and the blond let out a deep sigh, helping to serve Luffy his food first before the ladies – which was extremely uncharacteristic of Sanji, but he knew he had to, if not the overzealous boy would cause trouble. After a string of apologies sent to the ladies, he finally served their food, and then to the rest of the table.

"Itadakimasu," They said, excluding Luffy, who was already gobbling down the food.

"Ish zelichious (it's delicious)!" Luffy proclaimed happily. "Shanjee ish orshome (Sanji is awesome)!" He chirped brightly again, stuffing even more food down his throat. Sanji laughed.

"Hey, Sanji," Usopp piped up while scooping more bean sprouts for himself, "You didn't bring anything to school today? Was that on purpose?"

"Ah," Sanji rubbed his hand behind his neck, "I didn't know I was supposed to bring anything…"

"You didn't know?" Chopper echoed, "How can you not know? It's _school_!"

"Well, I've never attended school before so…" He left the sentence hanging, and shrugged. "I've always been home-schooled, so I pretty much leave my books at home all the time and… I forgot to bring it to school, that's all."

"Home-schooled, eh..?" Zoro commented, "You must be pretty rich, curly-brow."

"… I'd say not," Sanji answered, not even responding to the 'curly-brow'. Zoro frowned, but resumed eating his onigiri. Sanji _was_ a good cook, he realized, albeit belatedly. Onigiri had never tasted so good, but of course, Zoro would never admit it.

"Sanji-san," Robin said.

"Yes~ Robin-chwan?" He chirped happily, wide grin lighting up his entire face. Robin chuckled.

"It seems queer that you have never attended school before." Robin hinted, an enigmatic smile spreading across her face. She took a small bite of the roasted chicken as she watched Sanji, her head tilted slightly towards the side. Franky eyed Robin – she was trying to fish for information, wasn't she? Franky was curious, too.

"Ah," Sanji looked back down on his food, as though considering his answer. "… My old man Zeff preferred for me to remain home-schooled," He replied, suddenly grinning at Robin again, "He just misses me too much, I suppose," He added with a chuckle.

"And now he allows you to go to school, and live here, alone?" Robin questioned, lifting up an eyebrow the slightest inch.

"I managed to convince him," Sanji replied, scooping up more food to pile onto Luffy's plate. Luffy gave him a hurried 'thanks', before gobbling up the food again. He let out a sigh, "I mean, I can't possibly be cooped up at home for the rest of my life."

Before Robin could continue her string of questions, a knock from the door disrupted them. Sanji frowned. He didn't know anybody else in this place, so who could it be?

"It must be Ace!" Luffy yelled suddenly, jumping up to his feet.

"How would Ace know to come here?" Usopp asked suspiciously. Luffy gave him a bright smile.

"I messaged him!" Luffy replied, running to the door while simultaneously grabbing a dish from the table. The rest of them got up and followed him to the door.

"Ah, hi," Ace said, holding one hand up as a greeting. "Sorry for disrupting your meal."

Sanji watched by the side of the door as Luffy bounded into Ace's open arms, grinning as brightly as the sun as he yelled, "YOU'RE LATE!" Ace laughed good-naturedly, peeling Luffy off him and setting the younger guy down on the ground. Luffy beamed up at Ace, pushing something into the older man's hands.

"Sanji's cooking is awesome!" He proclaimed loudly as he grabbed a chicken leg from the plate he had passed to Ace and stuffed it into the guy's mouth. Ace protested something that couldn't be heard, and pushed away Luffy's hands, but Luffy was determined. Forcing his jaw open, Luffy stuffed the chicken leg into a flailing Ace and grinned triumphantly, placing his hands by his hips. "Try it!"

Completely unexpected, Sanji suddenly noticed something – something that he couldn't _believe_ he had missed before. From the moment Ace had stepped in to the moment Luffy ran across the room to meet Ace… All the tension in Luffy's body seemed to have disappeared instantaneously upon seeing Ace, that same radiant smile spreading across his face as he watched Ace chew slowly on the chicken leg. Ace's expression brightened up, his eyes sparkling, as he savoured the taste of Sanji's cooking. Luffy watched Ace expectantly, practically hopping on his feet as he waited for the older boy's verdict.

"It's really good," Ace finally commented.

"YEAH!" Luffy practically exploded with joy.

The blond shook his head slowly, a grin finding its way up his lips… Sanji didn't understand how he had never noticed it before, the way Luffy's tone changed when he was talking about Ace, the way his eyes brightened with every mention of the older male. It was so obvious, so glaringly obvious, that he was shocked he hadn't realized it sooner.

Luffy _liked_ Ace.

And from the look of things, Ace didn't know a thing.

"Why did you come so late~?" Luffy whined. "We were playing a game of –"

"Oi, Luffy!" Usopp hissed, clasping a hand over Luffy's mouth. If Sanji knew about the game, and knew about the double dare they gave to Zoro… all would be over! Usopp wasn't about to let that big-mouthed guy ruin everything! "W-what about Vivi, heh..?" Usopp frantically changed the topic. Ace grinned brightly. Sanji's gaze flickered towards Luffy instantly, but the overzealous boy was still smiling as radiantly as before.

"I just sent her home," Ace shrugged, "She didn't want me to keep ditching you guys for her. Luffy, you should learn from her! See how understanding she is?" Ace laughed, shaking his head, "To think you keep pestering me every day about spending more time with you."

Luffy pouted. "But you used to _always_ hang out with us, that's why!" Luffy protested. Ace waved off Luffy's accusations.

Sanji grinned. No matter what, whether or not Ace knew of Luffy's obvious adoration of him, there was an undisputable fact about the straw hat guy:

Luffy was so damn cute when he was around Ace.

"Well, times are a-changing, my young man," Ace patted Luffy on the back. "Hey Zoro, so how was the fight between Sanji over here?" He gestured to the blond, who was standing in front of him. Zoro's and Sanji's eyes met for a brief moment, before returning to look at Ace.

"It's alright," Zoro answered detachedly. Sanji narrowed an eye at him.

"Well, the marimo could barely keep up with me, so I guess that's '_alright'_," The blond replied. Zoro turned around to face Sanji, his eyes hot with anger, a feline smirk creeping up his lips.

"_Yeah_," Zoro answered, his voice low and rough, "It was _more_ than just alright. Didn't expect such a skinny curly-brow to be much of a challenge," He directed his words to the blond – a _challenge_.

"Oh? You want to have another go at it?" Sanji grinned, though his expression remained serious. "I'd beat you up so bad you can't tell left from right."

"You don't have to do that!" Luffy laughed loudly, "Zoro can't tell left from right in the first place!" With that said the rest of them burst out laughing. Zoro's face went a million shades of red, and he whirled around to face Luffy.

"Don't say that! I can't help it if the streets keep moving!" Zoro hissed, and Luffy continued to laugh good-naturedly.

"That's what Zoro always say when we talk about his bad sense of direction!" Usopp joined in, his face red from laughing. The moment Zoro turned to glare at Usopp though, the long-nosed man whimpered and turned away, all hints of laughter gone from his face.

"Ah, so a _lost_ marimo, is it?" Sanji drawled, taking out his cigarette again. He placed it between his lips casually, as though he had always done it, and proceeded to light up his cigarette. They watched his every move with rapt attention, until the moment where he placed his lighter back into his pocket and exhaled a long string of smoke. They coughed, turning away quickly. "Hm, that's interesting. No wonder he couldn't tell how to dodge from my kicks."

"What?" Zoro growled. "What about you? With that curtain of hair covering your left eye, you couldn't even tell that my swords were coming your way!"

"Better than being a directionally-challenged marimo," The blond answered silkily.

"Do you have something to cover up, with that annoying piece of hair hanging over your face all the time?" Zoro suddenly remembered the double dare and grinned, realizing that this was the perfect time to try to get Sanji to show his other eye.

"Are you annoyed that you can never pull off this look?" Sanji breathed in that nicotine stick of his, a slight smile playing on his lips. "That you'd always stay a directionally-challenged, unfashionable marimo..?"

"You only _wish_ that you actually have a sense of style," Zoro replied, "Do you have something to cover up, with that hair falling all over the place on your face?"

"I don't need to cover up _anything_," Sanji hissed, suddenly realizing the direction this conversation was heading.

"_Prove_ _it_," Zoro said, a smug smile etched on his face.

"I don't need to prove anything to you," The snarky blond replied. Nami and Usopp exchanged glances that said: _see, it wasn't so easy after all._ Zoro was never one to admit defeat, though.

"What, so all you've said was just a pack of lies after all," Zoro said, feigning disappointment. "Huh, I thought you were more than just that."

"What are they doing?" Luffy asked Ace innocently, "Zoro's acting weird."

Ace laughed, having already caught up with the situation, "Zoro's acting on a dare, that's for sure," He explained to Luffy. Luffy's mouth turned into a comical 'o', suddenly remembering the game of 'Dare or Double Dare' they had played earlier on.

Sanji exhaled out another long stream of smoke at Zoro's face, and Zoro forced himself not to cough. The blond smirked at the sight of Zoro's restlessness. "It's precisely because I'm above all your taunts that I'm not giving in to it, you stupid marimo."

"Okay, fine, you look _very handsome_ with all that dirty blond hair falling over your face," Zoro said sardonically, shrugging. "I guess without that bunch of hair, you'd look even worse than you do now, eh, dartboard-brow?"

An unbidden thought came to Sanji's head, and he shook it off hastily. He wouldn't think of such things, dammit! What was that accursed marimo trying to do, to get him to show his left eye? Why did he bother in the very first place? Trying to distract himself, he answered, "You _can_ get me to show it… _if_ you win me in a fight."

"Huh, that's easy," Zoro replied, adrenaline already pumping in his veins. Fighting with this guy was exhilarating, to say the least. They were almost exactly on par with one another, and so even though the fight they had ended in a stalemate, it was still fun to have someone of his standard to fight with him.

"_Or_ you can try to flick the hair off my head and see it," Sanji answered, a cheeky grin evident on his face. There, he said it. Zoro wouldn't – and _couldn't_, anyway – push away his fringe just to see his eye, would he? Sanji had only let one person lift up that curtain of hair blocking his left eye so far, and nobody else. It was more than just a style.

It was a memory.

Zoro smirked at the taunt. So the blond _didn't_ think he was capable of simply reaching out and brushing those few strands of hair off his face, just because they were _strangers_. It was easy. Simply reaching out and brushing those few strands of hair was _so_ easy, it couldn't be considered a mere challenge. But if the blond had brought that up as a dare, he'd do it.

He'd always take up a challenge.

Everyone there watched in silence as slowly, determinedly, Zoro reached out his hand. Sanji stared down at him with his firm, cool sea-blue gaze locking on Zoro's steely ones. The blond's taunting smirk never left his face even when Zoro's fingers inched even closer to the blond's face, hovering closely beside that curtain of hair.

And suddenly Zoro stopped in his pursuit. He left his hand there, hovering, with uncertainty coursing within him. What was he _doing_? Those strong oceanic blue eyes bore into his own; Sanji wore a calm, relaxed expression, but within his gaze, what Zoro saw was a challenge, a taunt… and somehow, a _plea_.

The swordsman suddenly realized how weird it was, how simply _intimate_ it was, for him to brush away those accursed blond strands of hair from the guy's face. Even the mere movement of his hand moving towards the blond felt so damn _intimate_ and personal that Zoro found himself stuck there, stuck in that action, unsure of what to do next.

And then a bubble of laughter burst from the blond's lips.

"Told ya you couldn't do it," The blond said, laughing loudly, watching as blood rushed up to Zoro's face, as the swordsman's expression changed from uncertain to mutinous in a second.

"What were you _playing_ at?" Zoro growled, but it didn't scare the blond in the least.

"I was wondering if you'd take up the challenge, that's all," The blond shrugged, still grinning.

"That was so _awkward_," Nami hissed to Usopp, "But awesome! _Look_, I told you Zoro wouldn't be able to do it!" She chirped excitedly. The duo hi-fived softly, making sure not to catch Zoro's attention.

"Why are we all watching the two of them anyway?" Franky yawned in the background, "I mean, yeah, watching this 'double dare' proceed is pretty fun, but... Ow! How can you forget about this _super_ ~ me right here?"

"Shh, Franky, I'm trying to watch!" Chopper said, and Franky looked depressed.

Even though Sanji was still laughing over Zoro's embarrassment, what he actually felt, instead of mirth and humour, was actually nostalgia. That was what he had said, didn't he, to the one person who had actually lifted that curtain of hair aside…

_"You can __**try**__ to see it," Sanji had dared the person, grabbing the person by the wrist; "I __**dare**__ you." Somehow, whenever he had used those magical words, nobody had ever managed to get him to show his left eye. They'd either simply walk away, afraid of what his challenge meant, or gave up halfway, somehow finding it too intimidating for them to finish what they've started out to do. He didn't even know __**why**__ everyone was so curious about his freaking hair anyway. It was just a hairstyle, there was nothing to it. _

_But this person was different._

_The person glared down at Sanji, being taller than Sanji was at that point in time, "What, you don't think I dare?" The person answered sharply. Sanji lifted his chin up, his gaze taunting, the smirk on his face mocking. "It's just a couple of strands of hair, is all," The person had said, before calmly raising a hand to Sanji's face and pushing aside those blond strands of hair in a single fluid movement._

_Sanji's jaw fell open as the person's fingers held those strands of hair behind Sanji's left ear, that calculative gaze meeting Sanji's stunned eyes as the person said, "There, I did it."_

Sanji blinked away the memories, and then grinned at Zoro, "Don't worry, you're not the first to have asked, nor are you the first to have failed to do so. Always happens," Sanji told the marimo. "I'm not trying to make fun of you or anything."

"… Damn it," Zoro let his arm fall back to his side, annoyed by that sudden moment of hesitation. It was just a few strands of stupid hair! How could he have been beaten by just _that_?

But then he remembered that strong gaze of Sanji's, that odd sign of weakness in his eyes, and he relented. It was okay. This one loss meant nothing.

He'd still end up winning in the end.

...

"Do you even have your school timetable?"Usopp asked Sanji, who shook his head. "Argh, okay, so I'll lend you mine first…" He dug his bag for the timetable and handed it to Sanji.

"Let's play a game! Let's pack Sanji's school bag together!" Luffy announced chirpily.

"I can pack my bag myself," Sanji retorted, but Luffy didn't back down.

"C'mon, we'll show you how to do it!" Luffy grinned brightly at the blond, "Don't be shy! You've never been to school before!"

"You've never been to school before?" Ace asked, and Luffy nodded his head.

"Yeah, he has always been home-schooled! Isn't that _awesome_?" Luffy chirped, and Sanji shook his head, sighing deeply. There was no way to get out of this, was there?

"Hey, Franky," Sanji said, suddenly curious about that older male, "Heard from Luffy that you've never graduated?"

"Nah, he gets the story wrong every single time," Franky answered, "The _super_ ~ me only entered school two years ago!"

"How old are you now?" Sanji asked, frowning.

"28! I was actually pretty alright with not completing my education, but after my stupid brother baka-berg, or as some people know as Iceberg, got really successful with his Galley-la company, my old man decided that I had to at least finish up my education," Franky told Sanji. "I'm actually the same age as Robin," As usual, he rolled the 'R' in Robin's name.

"Robin-chwan is 28~?" Sanji cooed, "Wow! Such a mature, delicate, feminine –"

"OKAY, Sanji, where's your bedroom?" Luffy interrupted.

"Eh? For..?"

"We're gonna help pack your school bag!" Luffy beamed up at the blond, and Sanji couldn't help but return the smile.

"Alright," He said, defeated. "Come with me."

"Yosh! Everybody, come with me!" Luffy punched his fist in the air, and everyone followed behind him, all chattering noisily like a bunch of school kids on an excursion. Sanji shook his head. He'd never interacted with such youthful, immature people back at Baratie.

"Here ya go," Sanji said, opening his room door, "There's nothing much in there, since I just moved in." True to his words, Sanji's bedroom was completely bare except for a king sized bed, a study desk, and a wardrobe spanning the length of the entire wall. The inside of room was also painted blue, the exact same shade as the living room.

"It's so plain…" Usopp commented.

"It's like a hotel room!" Chopper squeaked.

"Interesting," Robin said. A room could tell a lot about a person's personality, but since Sanji had just moved in, this wasn't an accurate representation of the blond. However, the fact that the room was so clean and immaculate despite him just moving in was enough evidence of his tidiness.

"Where's your bag, Sanji~?" Luffy jumped onto the king sized bed, bouncing up and down on the bed. "Hey, this is fun! Usopp, Chopper, Ace, join me!"

"You know I never join you for this kind of things, Luffy," Ace said, turning away from Luffy. "So, what do you think?" Ace directed the question to Zoro, who was still lingering outside the bedroom. "Come on inside."

"You say that as if it were your room," Zoro answered, but stepped into the room anyway, to be immediately greeted by the loud laughter belonging to that of the childish trio – Luffy, Usopp and Chopper.

"All I've got is this," Sanji placed a messenger bag onto his desk. Luffy jumped off the bed and frowned at the bag, reading the words written in a beautiful, flowing script, 'the Baratie'.

"What's 'the Baratie'?" Luffy asked earnestly.

"Ah, it's my old geezer's restaurant," Sanji replied.

"So you _are_ a cook!" Usopp exclaimed loudly, "That explains _everything_!"

"No, I'm _not_ a cook," Sanji denied once more, but he didn't elaborate his statement. Robin stared at the name of the restaurant, yet again memorizing it. That restaurant sounded _very_ familiar – maybe she had once dined there before? But she couldn't remember, no matter how much she probed her memory.

"Let's take a look at the timetable, shall we," Zoro said, taking Usopp's timetable. "… You're in the same class as me?" He said to Sanji, who rolled his eyes.

"Well yeah, how else would I know this bunch of rowdy kids? Excluding Nami-san and Robin-chan, of course~!" He said, bowing deeply to the two ladies, "I would never put you in the same category as those children!"

"Much appreciated, Sanji-san," Robin said with a slight smile, causing Sanji to swoon over her once more.

"Tch, so I'd have met you no matter what happened, huh," Zoro said to himself. "Okay, let's see. Tomorrow's a Tuesday, so…"

Usopp jumped off Sanji's bed, joining Zoro in reading the timetable, "Eeks! Mathematics! You have already offended Kame-sensei today morning, when you were late and when you came in with no school bag! Just in case, you should prepare two exercise books, your mathematics textbook, and maybe even the workbook…"

Nami came from behind Usopp, looked over Zoro's shoulder and read, "Ooh, next period's Robin's lesson, history! Sanji-kun, you don't need to bring anything for this, since Robin has _never_ touched the textbook before." At the corner of the room, Robin chuckled.

"I found them!" Luffy cried, holding up a couple of books in his hands like treasure.

"What are you _doing_ to my things?" Sanji said, annoyed, as Luffy stuffed the books into Sanji's messenger bag messily.

"Then afterwards –"

Finally, with a lot of rummaging through Sanji's drawers and shouting across the room, they finally managed to get Sanji's bag packed, leaving his room in a mess. He ran his hand through his hair in irritation. Now he'd have to clean his room up again, just because of Luffy's overzealous digging, among all things.

"It's getting pretty late," Ace noted, looking at the clock. The hour hand was inching to 12, the minute hand barely passing the number 10. "We should be going back now."

Usopp looked at the clock and jumped in horror. "I-I-It's gonna be _12_! Oh crap! The gangs will be out there, won't they? Those infamous gangsters around the area…!"

"WHAT GANGSTERS?" Chopper shrieked in horror. "O-Oh, you're talking about the… _oh no_! I don't want to cross paths with them! I don't want you to find my disembodied parts all over the streets!"

"What's going on?" Sanji asked.

"Well, recently, there's a series of events pertaining to gang fights and stuff, all happening during midnight or dawn," Ace clarified, "So they're pretty freaked out."

"Then why not stay overnight here?" Sanji offered. Instantly, Usopp and Chopper turned their pleading eyes on Sanji.

"_Really_~?" They said in harmony, huge puppy eyes now staring up at their benevolent benefactor, Sanji. Sanji ran his hand through his hair again, clearly embarrassed.

"Well yeah, this house is pretty big with quite a few guest rooms…" Sanji answered slowly.

"_THANK YOU_!" The two of them pounced onto Sanji, enclosing him in a huge hug. Luffy laughed, not knowing what was going on, and joined in, hugging Sanji tightly. Franky, not one who liked being left out of things, followed suit too, crushing the poor blond in a strong grip.

"_Help ~ me_~" Sanji choked out, clearly being strangled after Franky's addition to the group hug. Nami and Robin didn't bother to give him a second glance; they were already looking for a room to sleep in. Ace chuckled, trying to pry Franky's arms off the blond, while Zoro merely stood there, grinning at the scene.

Finally, with a well-delivered kick, Sanji managed to push aside the bulk of the people strangling him, leaving only Luffy who still clung onto him like a slug. Sanji glared at Luffy. "Get off!"

"No!" Luffy yelled, clinging onto Sanji for his dear life, as though it had suddenly became a competition. The blond tried to pull Luffy away from him, but the brunette's grip held firm. He let out a deep sigh.

"Hey," He said, suddenly remembering a question he wanted to ask the raven-haired boy. "Why do you keep claiming I was strong when you didn't even know me?" He asked. Luffy tilted his head at Sanji.

"I saw you from the window." He answered simply. "You were running to class, but when you entered class, you don't seem tired at all."

"… Ah," Realizing that now Luffy's guard was down, he hastily pried Luffy's rubbery fingers off his neck and pushed Luffy away. "I win," He grinned at the straw-hat boy. Luffy grinned back.

"Yeah, you did! I'm gonna choose my room now! How many rooms do you have?" Luffy asked, already running to inspect the rooms, pouting when he realized Nami and Robin had already laid claim to the room that Luffy had wanted.

"Um, excluding my room and the store room, I think I have 3 other rooms?" Sanji answered, "Now there's two more rooms left," He shrugged.

"Ace, I'll bunk in with you!" Luffy announced, grabbing Ace firmly by the arm and leading him to a room.

"Chopper!" Usopp shouted across the living room, and the reindeer jumped up to his feet, "I've claimed for us a room!"

"Yay – _What is Franky doing here_?" Chopper yelled from the room. The older male grinned, stretching his arms across the bed.

"Well, I guess I can make room for two more, since I'm feeling _super_~ good this week," He shrugged.

"You're _kidding_! You're too big-sized!" Usopp shouted.

"Hey! Is that a problem?" Franky protested, while Chopper had snuggled up under Franky's arm. Usopp glared at Chopper.

"You traitor," He shouted.

"Usopp, let's go and sleep already, I'm tired~" Chopper said, his eyes already fluttering shut. Upon seeing the reindeer drifting off to sleep, Usopp sighed and squeezed into the bed with Franky.

That left Zoro and Sanji standing face to face with one another in the living room, an awkward silence hanging between the two of them.

"Guess it's just you and me now," Sanji said, breaking the silence. "I'll take the couch but… I'll just pack up my room for a quick while, so…"

"I'll help you," The marimo replied. It was awkward – _really_ awkward, considering the two of them had barely known each other and had started off as enemies. "Huh, you're really a clean freak, aren't you?" Zoro commented as he watched Sanji arrange his clothing neatly according to type – for formal occasion, school, and casual wear. When he had tried to help the blond, he was quickly waved away, and Zoro sighed.

He couldn't help the obsessive blond, so he just stood at the door, his expression unfathomable as he watched Sanji go about cleaning his room. The blond let out a deep sigh. "You can go sleep or something, I won't disturb you."

"I can take the couch, you know," Zoro answered, but was once again waved away by Sanji as he made his way to the door.

"It's my house, and so it's my personal policy to let guests sleep on beds." Sanji answered, pushing away a bunch of books that Luffy had managed to extract from his closet. Zoro nodded his head. He'd always respect someone else's policies and morals. That, too, was _his_ own policy. The marimo grunted in response, making his way to the bed. He sat upright in bed, feeling weird to simply claim the bed as his own in another person's house. "Hey, so that Baratie is a restaurant, right?" He asked the first question that popped up in his mind. The blond gave him a sideway glance.

"Yeah," He replied. "The old geezer's in charge of it, though I don't know how anyone can keep up with his horrible temper," He let out a chuckle.

"Like how nobody can stand _your_ temper?" Zoro teased, which resulted in the blond giving him an aggrieved look.

"When I'm finally trying to be friendly, you have to open that shitty mouth of yours," He said in an annoyed tone. The corners of Zoro's lips lifted upwards. That blond really _did_ have a short temper, didn't he? It was going to be fun.

"Huh, your friendliness is really appalling," Zoro retorted, already feeling more comfortable with their bickering. He leaned back against the pillow, his legs outstretched in front of him. "Only someone like Luffy would be able to make friends with you in the first place."

"Then I wonder how Luffy had made friends with _you_," Sanji answered back, "He probably thought you were a plant that needed watering, only to realize that your marimo head was too thick to even be a plant in the first place."

Zoro frowned, at first not comprehending the 'plant' joke… "You calling me a _plant_ now..?" He replied in shock.

"Wow, the plant gets it! _Bravo_!" Zoro couldn't see it, but Sanji was grinning. "Perhaps all that watering _really_ did you some good after all."

"I bet Luffy only befriended you because of that target-brow you have grown on your face. What, were you so desperate for friendship that you had grown a target-board for people to notice you?" Zoro teased, and Sanji laughed.

"Just like how you sat with the plants for the whole day to leech the chlorophyll off their leaves just to get attention, right?" Sanji answered, somehow not feeling annoyed by the marimo. Usually he'd be pissed off by now.

Zoro chuckled at that response, "Guess the two of us are really attention-seekers, huh?" He said, not knowing why but feeling extremely comfortable talking to the blond. Sanji had finally finished packing up the room, and he made his way to the light switch.

"Go sleep already," Sanji said, his back facing Zoro, "God knows how tired you must be without your sunlight," He said, and Zoro snorted.

"Yeah, you only _want_ me to sleep so that you can curl your eyebrows in private, isn't it?"

"Well, of course, thanks for being so considerate," The blond answered, flipping the light switch off. "Night, marimo," He said as he walked out of the room, closing the door behind him.

...

Sooooo how's it?


	4. All for One, One for All

And here you go, the next chapter's up! Just wondering, is the length of my chapters too short, too long, or just right? :D I just want some feedback on it, thanks!

Disclaimer: One Piece does not, regrettably, belong to me. It does, however, belong to the awesome Oda... but still, that's not me. :(

**Chapter 4 || All for One, One for All**

Sanji stretched, his eyes flicking to the clock – it was 5 in the morning, the perfect time to start preparing breakfast. He let out a yawn, rubbing his eyes as he made his way to the bathroom…

He paused midway, noting an opened door… why was the door to one of his guestrooms open? He always kept the doors closed, since he was living alone… Last night's events flooded his memory, and he grinned. Who could be awake so early in the morning? He gave a small knock on the door and stuck his head inside the room.

"Oh, Usopp, you're up early," He said to the long-nosed boy. The teenager looked up at him, and grinned.

"Sanji, you're up early too!"

"What are you doing there?" He asked. Usopp was holding a pencil in his hand, and a sketchbook was placed hurriedly by his side as Sanji approached. "You're drawing?"

"Uh… yeah… heh….heh," Usopp gave an awkward laughter. "It's nothing…"

"Let me see it," Sanji probed, "You must be really good."

"N-Nah," To Sanji's surprise, Usopp didn't jump at the opportunity to boast. His grin widened – this must mean that Usopp's drawings had to _really_ be good.

"C'mon, let me have a look," He asked again, "I mean, you've all tried my cooking, right? It's a fair deal."

"… Oh alright, don't laugh, okay?" He said to Sanji, "But let's go to the living room. I don't want Chopper or Franky suddenly waking up." Sanji gave a nod, and the two of them made their way to the living room. Usopp closed the bedroom door and let out a sigh.

"So… I draw." Usopp began. "I mean, yeah, you've figured that out already." He rubbed the back of his neck nervously, "Sometimes I see scenes that are really… beautiful, you know? Or… breathtaking or basically simply unforgettable… when I see things like that, I just have to draw it. Or paint it. Whatever, just some way for me to remember it by," Sanji nodded his head. "Um… come have a look."

The blond sat beside Usopp as the long-nosed teen hesitantly flipped open the cover of his sketchbook. Immediately, Sanji caught sight of Luffy, laughing brightly and as happily as he always did. The top half of Luffy's face was partially cast in a shadow. It was then Sanji noticed Ace beside Luffy, who was also smiling widely, as he placed the straw hat atop Luffy's head. Even though it was merely a drawing, a sketch, every detail seemed to encompass the exact feeling Luffy and Ace were experiencing at that moment. It was beautiful, both Usopp's skill and the drawing itself. "Wow, it looks really… realistic." Sanji breathed. Usopp beamed up at the blond.

"Thanks!"

"What about this… scene… caught your attention?" Sanji asked. Usopp frowned.

"Hm… at first, I couldn't really pinpoint it. Luffy was just as usual, happy and overzealous, and Ace was also being his usual self. But somehow I just… realized that I _needed_ to draw it. So I did. But it was only until recently that I sort of… realize why I drew it." Usopp answered hesitantly. Sanji nodded his head, indicating for Usopp to go on. "I mean, this is all pretty obvious and stuff, but since it's your first day with us you may not have realized it, and I'm not very sure whatsoever, but I think…"

"Luffy likes Ace, doesn't he?" Sanji piped up. Usopp's eyes widened in surprise, and then he quickly nodded his head.

"You've noticed?" Usopp asked in amazement. "Wow, I only realized it after poring over this drawing of mine a few weeks back."

"How long ago did you draw this?" Sanji asked, and Usopp frowned again.

"I think… two months ago? Yeah, I think that's it. Two to three months ago."

"That's probably when Luffy started to like Ace," Sanji murmured under his breath thoughtfully. "You only realized it was a special moment, something worthy to capture, but you just didn't know what sort of a moment it was. Until now," Sanji smiled. "That's pretty cool."

"O-Of course! It's ore-sama's artwork! How can it not be cool?" Usopp said in a fluster. "Um… okay, moving on…" Usopp flipped to the next piece of drawing. "Ah, it's just a self-portrait… ignore it," Usopp was about to flip the page again, but Sanji's hand blocked him.

"Let me take a look," Sanji said, taking the sketchbook from Usopp's loose grip. Usopp was grinning brightly in the self-portrait as he stood on a huge rock at an empty beach. His arms were outstretched into the sky, and a camera hung from his neck. When the blond looked closer at the empty beach, he realized there were a few items strewn haphazardly on the beach. A straw hat, partially buried in the sand; three swords peeking out from behind the rock Usopp was standing on; a thick, hefty book somewhere at the corner of the beach; a toolbox beside the straw hat; a violin that lay against the rock; a treasure chest; petals of cherry blossoms. Even though he didn't know exactly which item represented which person, the straw hat and three swords were unmistakeable and impossible to not notice. He grinned. "You really appreciate all of them, don't you?" He said to Usopp, who flushed red.

"Okay, moving on…" He flipped the page over again. It was a drawing of a sunset, with the back view of a couple as they walked towards the horizon, whose fingers were intertwined tightly. On the slimmer wrist belonging to that of the woman's, there was a thick bracelet hanging on it. The couple was facing each other, with the woman's wavy hair pulled back in a long ponytail, whereas the guy's messy hair was flowing in the invisible wind.

"That's Ace and… Vivi," Usopp told Sanji. "I think it was the first time we've seen them as a couple. About two months ago, I think."

"How did Luffy react?" Sanji asked curiously, and Usopp shrugged.

"He acted like his same old self – he clamoured for Ace's attention, he and Ace did stupid things together, and when Ace dropped the bomb, he just grinned widely and congratulated the both of them happily."

Sanji frowned, "I thought Ace was more matured than Luffy? What do you mean by, 'they did stupid things together'?"

Usopp laughed at Sanji's confusion. "Ace's only _trying_ to be matured now. In reality, he's pretty much as playful and weird as Luffy is. He's just trying to act his age because of _you_! And probably because of Vivi, too," Usopp patted Sanji on his back. "Thanks to you, Luffy and Ace can't pull any of their stupid antics!"

"Well, you're welcome," Sanji shrugged, flipping to the next page of the sketchbook. This time, it was of Nami, Robin, Chopper, Franky, and a person Sanji couldn't identify.

"That's Brook," Usopp told Sanji. Sanji nodded his head in understanding. The five of them were sitting at a table, laughing about something Sanji couldn't see. Franky was pointing somewhere, and Sanji noted that there were two extra cups on the table. "We were watching one of Brook's performances when Ace and Luffy snatched the stage and started performing all their usual crazy antics. It was _really_ funny, though. They made the whole bar crack up – though I think we were all laughing _at_ them rather than _with_ them. Oh, Zoro wasn't there because he was too lazy to leave the house, or something along those lines." Usopp was beaming brightly at Sanji. "Next time, you _must_ come along with us to watch one of Brook's performances! It's always crazy in there, but things get really fun!"

"I'll see about that," Sanji answered as he flipped to the next drawing. It was of a really pretty girl whom Sanji didn't know. The girl was in their school uniform and was seated at a desk, looking out of an opened window. Her eyes were partially closed, her mouth slightly opened, as the wind played at a few strands of her loose long hair.

"T-T-T-That's… nobody you know! Let's go to the –" Usopp fell silent at the blond's gaze.

"That's Kaya," The blond stated, reading the name Usopp had written at the bottom of the page. "The girl Nami was talking about?"

"Y-Yeah," Usopp admitted. Sanji didn't ask anything more and flipped the page again.

The first thing he saw was a drawing of himself. He was taken aback, of course, and looked to Usopp, who turned away quickly. It was a drawing of the ring. In the drawing, Sanji had his hands tucked into his pockets, as per usual, his blond hair slightly tousled. Even though he was slouching, it was obvious that he was preparing to attack, with the tip of his left shoe tapping the ground behind him. His gaze was sharp, but he had a slight smirk on his face.

Across from him was the marimo. Zoro had his two swords in a firm grip in his hands, his muscles taut. Zoro was glowering menacingly at the blond as he prepared to launch himself at Sanji. A thin film of perspiration covered his forehead, his lips curled into that usual snarl of his. Sanji laughed at the drawing.

"Okay, why did you draw this, then?" Sanji asked.

"Because the fighting was brilliant!" Usopp proclaimed loudly. "It's also because it was a new friendship! You were a new friend! So I had to draw it!"

"Ah, I see," Sanji gave Usopp a grin, and then flipped the page again. It was the drawing Usopp had been working on when Sanji disturbed him.

He paused at the drawing, considering it, before wordlessly shutting it and returning it to Usopp.

"Don't tell anyone," Usopp said. Sanji got up to his feet and patted Usopp on his back.

"Don't worry," He said as he made his way to the bathroom, "I won't say a word."

...

"Let's live here forever!" Luffy announced brightly, his mouth stuffed with pancakes. "Sanji's the best cook ever!"

"I can't deny that," Franky nodded his head, scooping up the last of his pancakes and finishing it in one big bite. "Robin, need any help with that?" He asked, indicating the teacher's plate which did not looked as though it had even been touched.

"Yes, thank you very much," Robin answered, pushing her plate to him. He grinned and without further ado, began stuffing it into his mouth.

"Oi, Robin, you could've given that to me!" Luffy whined, but Robin merely chuckled.

"Ah, what time is it now?" Chopper asked suddenly, "I need to head to school early… gotta find this sensei about some of my work…"

"There's still forty five minutes, relax," Zoro lounged casually on the chair, gulping down a cup of fruit juice.

"_Forty-five minutes_..?" Chopper echoed in horror. "I need to meet the teacher soon! Can we rush back to school in fifteen minutes time, Sanji?"

"Uh…" Sanji didn't know what to reply. He had, after all, managed to reach school in slightly less than ten minutes – but he had run the whole way. "I guess so. We'd have to rush a bit, though, I think."

"Everybody, I'm sorry but can you hurry up? This is really important…" Chopper was pacing to and forth the kitchen in a fluster.

"Sure! Everyone, finish your meal in five minutes and clean it up! We'll leave in five minutes time!" Luffy proclaimed. Nobody protested, though, at the sight of Chopper's panic, and began gobbling down their food in record time. Sanji waved them away when they wanted to wash the dishes, knowing that he could finish the dishes faster than all of them combined.

In about seven minute's time, they were done and ready to leave.

"Oh no… thirty eight minutes more… and I need to discuss with my sensei something… I need to reach school in fifteen minutes time!" Chopper told the rest.

"Ah, it's no big deal," Ace shrugged, and the rest of them nodded their heads. "We'll be there on time. In fact, I think it'll be the earliest I ever reach school."

Chopper looked up at his friends with tear-filled eyes. "T-Thanks, everyone…"

"Let's GO!" Luffy yelled as they walked out of Sanji's house.

...

"I-I-I realized something, everyone…" Usopp's panic-stricken eyes met each and every one of his friend's, "We… didn't get to pack our bags yesterday."

"So?" Luffy asked, blissfully ignorant of how much trouble they were going to get. The teachers in this school, excluding Robin, of course, were somehow _extremely_ sensitive about bringing work to school. And the four of them (namely Usopp, Nami, Luffy and Zoro) had been targeted by the teachers for a long time, since they never bothered to finish their work. (Though to Usopp's claim, he was _forced_ to _not_ do his homework by the other three devils)

"Especially with… Kame-sensei…" Usopp stammered, "You know to always, _always_, bring your work!" Usopp flinched.

"It's just a couple of books," Zoro answered, leaning against his chair at the back of the classroom, "I've been caught so many times for it. There's nothing much to worry about."

"That's because you are _Zoro_!" Usopp yelled, pointing an accusing finger at the swordsman. "You won't even care if the teacher comes up with some horrid punishment for you!"

"There's nothing to worry about!" Luffy joined in chirpily, pulling Sanji to their seats in class. They were the only ones in class at such an early hour – nobody liked to be in school early, in any case. "It's just a couple of books! It'll be alright!"

"Luffy, too," Usopp shook his head. "Nami, don't you know what this means?"

"I can _always_ get out of punishments," Nami said with a wink, "After all… I know things about the teachers that they _never_want to have leaked out…"

Usopp eyed Nami in horror, "W-W-What a devil…" He told himself, shaking his head. Realizing that none of his friends cared about being caught, he let out a deep sigh.

Oh, he hoped that he'd have a loud and vibrant funeral attended by the entire city, with a huge monument of the brilliant Usopp erected at the city centre…

As he was busy daydreaming, he didn't notice the stream of students filing into the classroom, and only belatedly realized the presence of Kame-sensei in class. "_Stand up_!" A classmate seated behind him hissed. Hastily, he jumped to his feet, not even sure what he stood up for…

Until his eyes met the evil, cruel glint belonging to that of his mathematics teacher. He gulped.

"Good morning, Kame-sensei," The students greeted. The sensei nodded his head, gesturing for them to take their seats. Before the students had even sat back down, though, he slammed a stack of papers onto his table.

"What is this?" He yelled to the whole class. "Your end-of-year examination papers, of last year," He told them, his voice suddenly dangerously low. "After realizing your abysmally horrible results for your mathematics last year, I'm sure you know how hard you have to work this year." There was a long pause following that statement of his. He took a deep breath, and finally said, "Take out your textbook and workbooks now. Those who did not bring them, who _dared_ to not bring them," He glowered at the class, "Stand up, take your things and stand outside the classroom. _Now_."

The very first person who stood up, with no hesitance whatsoever, was Zoro. He slung his bag over a shoulder, and without even glancing at Kame-sensei, he strode towards the door purposefully. Following which, Nami stood up and walked behind Zoro, and as she walked to the door she gave the sensei a little wink. Luffy head shot up from his table when he realized that Zoro and Nami were leaving. Not really knowing what was going on, yet determined to follow suit, Luffy stood up, grinning brightly. "Bye sensei!" He chirped happily as he walked out the classroom.

Usopp took a deep breath. It was now or never. But before Usopp could get up to his feet, he saw Sanji stand up. He widened his eyes in shock – Sanji had brought his books, didn't he? – He watched as the blond pass the sensei wordlessly, until a hand reached out to grab his upper arm.

"What?" Sanji asked, narrowing his eyes at the sensei.

"Is this your attitude?" The sensei spat, "Two days in a row, and you're a new student at the school! What kind of attitude do you have?"

"I forgot to bring my books," Sanji answered. After a few seconds of silence, he added, "I'm sorry, sensei. I won't do it again."

Perhaps it was due to extreme shock by Sanji's unexpectedly sincere apology, but the sensei had released his grip on Sanji's arm. The blond continued in his path, as though he was never stopped in the first place, and left the room.

Shakily, Usopp got up to his feet. "I-I-I'm sorry, sensei," He stuttered, before promptly running out of the classroom and shutting the door behind him, perspiration dripping off his forehead. "Sanji, what were you doing?" He hissed at the blond.

"What..? You guys forgot to pack your bags because of me. It's not much if I did this to pay you back," The blond shrugged. Usopp's jaw dropped.

"B-But you are already targeted by Kame-sensei!" He said, and Sanji shrugged once more.

"Yosh!" Luffy said, "Since we're all here, let's go visit Brook! He's back from his performances!"

"Yeah, that'll be nice," Zoro agreed.

"Hm… I guess we can't get Robin to come along, since she still has lessons to attend," Nami sighed. Usopp watched them, wide-eyed, before shaking his head.

"This is only the _second_ day of school, and we've gotten into such deep trouble!" He told them, "Furthermore, you're planning to ditch school? It's only the _first_ lesson!"

"Ah, we're not doing anything anyway~" Luffy answered, "We got kicked out of class. Why did we get kicked out of class anyway? Huh? Someone tell me already~"

"Alright, let's get Franky and Ace too," Nami said, "I've messaged the two of them to meet us at the usual place."

"Are they coming?" Zoro answered, "I mean, they _are_ seniors… don't they have some pretty important exams coming up?"

"Hold on a sec," Nami whipped her phone out of her pocket, "Yep, they're meeting us there. Franky said he'll be late though, because his first lesson is Robin's class, and we've already promised her to never ditch her class. He said he'll meet us at the place."

"Ace is coming?" Luffy asked, and Nami nodded her head. "What about Chopper?"

"Oh… Chopper doesn't have a phone," Nami told Luffy, "But I don't think he'll want to come."

"Today's lessons for Chopper," Usopp pondered. He had long resigned to fate – hanging out with this group of people meant that he'll probably never be able to properly attend class in his entire life. "If I didn't remember wrongly, I'm pretty sure he has that important lesson with that important teacher whose name I can never remember. I don't think he'll join us. Especially with that competitor Chopper has…"

"Alright then, let's go!" Luffy grinned brightly.

"Don't say it so loudly!" Nami hissed, hitting him on the top of his head. Luffy pouted.

"Okay_, let's go_," He said softly, and Nami nodded her head, giving him a thumbs-up. Beaming happily again, the five of them made their way out of school.

...

"So, enlighten me again, but who's Brook?" Sanji asked, leaning against the trunk of the tree as they waited for Ace outside the school.

"He's a musician!" Luffy answered.

"He's… I don't know, 50-something?" Usopp replied.

"How did you meet him anyway, then?" Sanji asked.

"It's a long story," Usopp let out a deep sigh. "But let me narrate it to you! It was a fine day, and if I don't recall wrongly, it was a Saturday – two years ago, I think –"

"Ace!" Luffy shouted, "What took you so long?" Sanji turned, to see the older boy walk towards them from the school gate, his usual grin etched on his face.

"Vivi wanted to come along," He answered. Due to the shadows cast by the trees, Sanji hadn't noticed the girl at first, but now that she had moved away from the shadows obscuring her, he saw that she and Ace were holding hands.

It was a beautiful girl, with long aquamarine hair tied up into a high ponytail. Thick long lashes framed her wide, dark brown eyes, which contrasted against her fair skin. She smiled at all of them, giving them a tiny wave with her other hand.

"Oh, you must be Vivi~!" Sanji said, running in front of her and giving a low bow. "Wow, I have never seen such magnificent beauty in my whole life –"

Before Sanji knew it, a fist had settled itself on the top of his head. He frowned, rubbing the sore spot on his head. "Don't go hitting on my girlfriend here," Ace told him, but the good-natured smile never left his face.

"Oh, right, sorry," Sanji answered abashedly.

"Okay, let's go!" Luffy yelled, "Quick, before the teachers realize we're missing!"

"I'm Sanji," The blond introduced as he walked alongside the couple, "It's nice to see you and… I'm… sort of sorry about before."

"It's alright," She answered, laughing. "I'm Nefetari Vivi, nice to see you too. You're a new student, right? I heard from Ace."

"Yeah, he's really good at fighting!" Ace piped up, "He was on par with Zoro!"

"Oi!" Zoro said from in front of them. "Stop saying that. I could've won him if Robin hadn't stopped us."

"Oh yeah, you _wish_, marimo," Sanji shot back.

"What, you wanna give it another go? Huh, you're only confident right now because I don't have my swords with me." Zoro retorted, "But ah well, I guess if I had my swords around, it'll be no fun."

"I haven't even given you my all when we were fighting. I can win you even by using only one of my legs, you accursed marimo."

"Eh…heh… did I start this?" Ace asked Vivi with a sheepish grin. The blue-haired girl laughed.

"Yep!" She answered brightly. "Go do something about it, then!" She pushed him towards the duo, who was currently both radiating equally murderous auras.

"Hey, chill," Ace said, but backed away when they directed their glares towards the older boy. "Um… alright, I'll leave the two of you alone..." He said, retreating backwards.

"We're gonna see Brook!" Luffy suddenly said loudly, "Let's sing Binks' Sake! Everyone! Together! Yohohoho~!"

"I'm really not gonna do that in public, Luffy," Nami said, turning away from Luffy. "I do not know that guy. I do not know that guy…" She chanted, moving nearer towards Vivi for 'protection'. The blue-haired girl merely laughed.

"Yohohoho~!" Ace joined in, while Usopp was still narrating the story of how they met Brook to Sanji, not knowing that Sanji had long lost interest in the story and was now exchanging glares with Zoro.

"Going to deliver Binks' sake~" Luffy and Ace were singing at the top of their voices, their arms hooked as they skipped towards the bar, grinning widely like idiots. "Following the sea breeze ~ Riding on the waves~"

"Come on, everyone! It's more fun when we sing it together!" Luffy laughed, grabbing Zoro and forcefully hooking arms with him.

"O-Oi Luffy!" Zoro protested, but as usual, the jovial straw-hat boy would not take 'no' for an answer. At last, Zoro let out a sigh, giving in…

But not without pulling someone down with him.

He grabbed the nearest arm – Usopp's – and locked the poor arm in a tight grip. Meanwhile, Ace had managed to get hold of Sanji, who had been trying to run away, and also hooked his arm with him. Usopp beamed brightly though – of course! Usopp was a famous singer, _very_famous indeed, so how could one forget about the almighty Usopp when it came to singing? Ah, his voice had touched millions of hearts before, and the very sound of his name caused girls everywhere to tremble in delight…

"Let's sing!" Luffy yelled, and the song started over again. Zoro, Luffy, Ace and Usopp were all singing brightly and loudly, their off-key voices forming a dissonant melody that pierced the ears of all the passers-by. Sanji didn't know the lyrics of the song, but after the constant repetitions he knew the melody well enough, so he joined in by singing 'lalala's as replacement for the lyrics.

Nami sighed, burying her head in her palms. Vivi patted Nami on the shoulder, but she was watching the five people embarrass themselves with amusement. She didn't know the song, but if she did, she'd have definitely joined in for sure.

Before long, they reached the bar where Brook was going to perform at. They strolled in casually, still singing loudly at the top of their lungs. Upon entering, they saw that practically the _whole_ bar was filled, with barely any seats left. The bar was noisy, loud, and raucous, just like how all bars ought to be. "Quick!" Luffy said, waving at them from a seat near the stage.

"When did he get there?" Nami asked in bewilderment as they joined Luffy at the round table. The seat was high, and shaped into a circle, giving them a false sense of privacy.

"Hm, Brook's performance isn't gonna be up yet… When will Franky ever get here?" Usopp sighed, checking the message Brook had sent them. "Never mind, let's get some drinks first! What do you want?"

As they were still clad in their uniforms, it was impossible for them to get beers or any of the like, so they all settled on having a simple glass of coke. When the drinks arrived, Ace grinned brightly.

"Let's play a game. You all up for it..?" He asked, that cheeky grin still etched on his face. He was sitting beside – of course – Vivi, his arm casually slung around her shoulders. Beside him were Usopp, and then Luffy, Sanji, Nami and finally Zoro. They eyed him suspiciously – Yes, Ace was better than Luffy, but only by marginally, so… they didn't really dare to trust his games.

"C'mon, give Ace a chance!" Vivi probed them, laughing genially. "I mean, you are all already used to Luffy's antics anyway, aren't you?"

"Yeah, that's right…" Murmurs of agreement followed that statement, and Ace turned to shoot Vivi a glare.

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" He demanded, retracting the arm slung around her shoulders as he frowned. She laughed again.

"What, you know it's true." She replied simply. Ace raised an eyebrow, and she let out a sigh. "Well… you guys just think of the most ridiculous of things, don't you?" She tilted her head slightly at him. "Alright, I'm sorry – you're better than Luffy at least, okay?" With that, Ace was appeased. He grinned brightly at her again.

"Oi ~" Luffy whined upon hearing Vivi's statement, and she shot him an apologetic glance.

"Ace can be such a kid sometimes," She shrugged at him, but Ace pretended to have not heard her words.

"Alright, we'll play then," Nami decided. "Go on," She told Ace, resting her head in the palm of her hands. Ace's grin, if possible, grew bigger.

"This game is called the 'Circle of _Death'_." He explained. Immediately, Luffy's eyes brightened up. That name reeks of excitement, he thought in his head excitedly. Beside him, chills went up Usopp's spine. No, it didn't sound good… not at all… "Basically, we'll each just keep doing dares upon dares, and if we can't do that dare we have to drink finish the entire glass of coke," He raised a glass, "And no matter how much we've drunk, we are not allowed to go to the restroom. Not at all. Unless a forfeit or penalty is done, of course," Ace described, still grinning.

"Um…" Vivi looked away, "I'm sorry for getting you guys into this…"

"WE'RE PLAYING!" Luffy yelled thunderously.

And with Luffy's unshakable conviction, the dice was rolled. The game was to be played, after all.

...

"GO, ZORO, GO!" They chanted loudly from the table as Zoro made his way to a nearby seat, looking absolutely mutinous but was left with no choice. Damn it, was his luck that bad? Why did he end up doing so many dares? He took a deep breath, before awkwardly sliding into the seat beside two heavily made-up girls. The two girls turned to fix annoyed stares at him. However, when they caught sight of him, their gaze strolled up the length of his body… evaluating him… two identical sly smiles crept up their faces, the annoyance long gone in their expressions. One of them, with deep violet hair, fluttered her eyelids at him, pouting her lips and giving him a wink. Zoro cringed, and turned away, to find himself face to face with the other girl.

"Hi, _sweetheart_," The girl, with bright red curly hair, said, skidding closer towards him, a hand snaking up the length of his arms before she finally hooked her arm with his tightly. She gave him a small, supposedly seductive smile, and then stared up at him from beneath her eyelashes, "What brings _you_ here?" Her other free hand went to his face, her finger slowly drawing circles along the length of his neck. Zoro flushed – this was _not_ his thing! They could've just gotten that stupid pervert to do this!

Meanwhile, back at the table, all his friends were trying hard not to laugh. If it was even possible, Zoro seemed to _radiate_ awkwardness. He stood there, completely unsure of what to do next… but if he was to follow the dare given to him by Usopp, edited by Nami, then…

Zoro suddenly stood up, causing the girl throwing herself at him to stumble forward. He slammed his fist on his table, yelling, "I-I-I'm PREGNANT, YOU IDIOT!" Upon saying that statement, his face flashed a million shades of red. A sea of faces stared up at him from their seats, confusion evident on their faces. _Shit_! Zoro ran back to his seat hastily, completely and utterly embarrassed.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"SHUT UP!" He roared, but that only served to make them laugh louder. "Damn it, whoever who goes up next, don't think I'll make things easy for you…"

"_Super_~ Hello everybody!" Franky arrived, sitting next to Ace, "What's wrong, swordsman-bro? Have got too much to drink already?" He asked, and the rest of them guffawed even louder than before.

"Alright, let's do it again." They finally calmed down enough to do a proper 'rock, paper, scissors' again and…

Nami walked towards the stage, cursing herself for losing. How could she have not realized that Zoro was putting up a feint! Now she had gotten herself into this mess, too! She cringed, finally managing to make her way to the middle of the stage. She cleared her throat and said louder, "EVERBODY, please look here!"

Instantaneously, all the attention was on her. Obviously, the customers had thought that she was going to signal the start of the performance. Well, unfortunately… not. She forced her eyes shut. Man… she _really_ _didn't_want to do this! She took a deep breath, before bellowing…

"WHO LIVES IN THE PINEAPPLE UNDER THE SEA?"

"…"

Laugher burst out from the audience, before the reply came back, "SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS!"

"ANNOYING AND ORANGE AND FEMALE IS SHE!"

Another bout of laughter hit the audience as they heard the newly-edited lyrics, but still they continued, "SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS!"

At the table, all of them were laughing so hard that their faces were flushed red, with Luffy slapping the table hard as he laughed, and Ace hitting Franky's back roughly as laugher spewed out of all of them. Even Sanji, who had fervently protested against Nami going upstage to embarrass herself, couldn't keep the laugher from bursting out of his lips. Nami was completely and utterly humiliated – she was comparing herself to a fictional cartoon _SPONGE_!

"IF A SEXY LADY IS WHAT YOU THINK SHE IS," She continued yelling, her eyelids still tightly shut.

"SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS!"

"SEE THAT LONG ORANGE HAIR THAT LOOKS LIKE A FISH!"

"SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS!"

"EVERYBODY!"

"SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS, SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS –" The audience were now entertaining themselves, singing along loudly to that children's cartoon show theme song as Nami hastily retreated from the stage and ran back to her seat.

"LUFFY, I am going to _MURDER_ you!" She growled menacingly, but everybody at the table was still suffering from an uncontrollable madness that had gripped them. They couldn't stop laughing – both at Zoro's plight and Nami's sorry situation. "Whoever who's up next, you'd better get ready…"

"Oh we _can't_," Usopp managed to say from between laughs, "Because Brook's going to perform in a minute's time!"

"YES!" The rest of them hi-fived, while the two poor victims, Zoro and Nami, glowered at their friends with vengeance set deep in their hearts. They'd find a chance to repay the injustice did to them, they promised each other. The two looked to one another and nodded their heads. Yes, they should show their friends that they won't be so easily brought down!

"YOHOHOHOHO!"

"Brook!" Luffy exclaimed, hastily turning to the stage. A frighteningly tall, but yet extremely skinny, man emerged, with his hair styled into an afro and a walking stick in one hand. He turned to bow at the audience.

"Everybody, it's nice to see you here –" The rest of his words were drowned by the huge ovation given by the audience – Brook, after all, was pretty famous. Alongside his band, 'The Rumbar Brothers', he had made quite a name of himself by performing in various pubs and bars. To be able to afford him to perform now would be quite amazing, because The Rumbar Brothers was quite in high demand.

"Thank you so much. Without further ado, we shall begin our performance. Please, do enjoy. And to my friends out there," He gestured towards Luffy's table, and Luffy bounded up to his feet, his straw hat once again bouncing merrily behind his back as he stood on the seat and grinned brightly at Brook, "This one is for you… Binks' Sake…"

The band members all came on stage, with Brook taking the violin, one member taking the keyboard, one on the drums and another on an electric guitar. The starting notes of the song were played on the keyboard, and then finally, they began singing.

_"Yohohoho – Yohohoho,"_ The whole bar was singing along with them. This was the 'signature' song of the Rumbar Brothers, written when the members of the band were travelling the world, sailing the seas...

_"Yohohoho – Yohohoho!"_

_"Going to deliver Binks' Sake!  
Following the sea breeze! Riding on the waves!_

_Far across the salty depths! The merry evening sun!  
The birds sing as they draw circles in the sun!"_

_"Farewell to the harbour, to my old hometown,  
Let's all sing out with a Don as the ship sets sail!_

Waves of gold and silver dissolve to a salty spray  
as we all set sail to the ends of the sea~"

The whole bar was brought alive by the song, with almost everybody in the bar singing loudly along to it. When the performances were done, the band retreated to the backstage to keep their things. Luffy grabbed Ace by the hand, grinning widely, his eyes twinkling. "Let's go up there again!"

"Yeah, sure!" Ace jumped to his feet, "Watch me!" He yelled to Vivi, and the blue-haired girl laughed.

"Oh, I'm not sure if I want to acknowledge them when they're pulling weird antics on stage…" Vivi shook her head as the two made their way enthusiastically to the stage.

"They're gonna be doing weird things again, aren't they?" Usopp commented. "And they'll just keep pointing towards us! Ah… but I should've known… with them, there's no such thing as pride anymore…"

"It's okay!" Franky grinned. "It'll be fun, won't it?"

"What are they gonna do?" Sanji asked, "You make it seem like something deathly embarrassing…"

"I feel second-hand embarrassment even just from watching them!" Nami answered, "But it's okay, I guess, for people like them. I mean, if I didn't know them, I'd find it all really funny too." She shrugged. "But if you're here, might as well get used to it."

"Luffy, hold on!" Ace said, as Luffy weaved through the crowd.

"Quickly, before someone else takes over the stage!" Luffy replied. Ace laughed.

"Nobody will; they know we _own_ that stage!" He answered, but Luffy didn't slow down. His hand slipped from Luffy's tight grip, and he sighed. Before he'd know it, he'd see Luffy already on the stage commandeering the attention of everybody in the bar. He'd have to hurry up before Luffy stole all the limelight! He hastened his pace.

"Sorry," He heard Luffy say, and saw Luffy standing in front of a bulky, muscular man. Luffy seemed anxious to leave, of course, but the man merely gave an animalistic grin at the straw hat boy, "But I need to go!" Luffy continued, his eyes still fixated on the stage.

"_Wait_," The tall, tanned man said. He turned to glare at Luffy, unkempt blond hair falling all over his eyes as he tilted his head slightly, "You bumped into me. What should you do?"

"I already said I'm sorry! I'm in a hurry!" Luffy said, his left leg lifted up, ready to continue walking to the stage, but in a swift motion, the man had dumped a mug of beer onto Luffy.

Ace clenched his fist, his eyes hot with anger as he stormed towards the man. Luffy's head and top of his shirt was completely soaked in beer, and droplets of liquid hung from the ends of his hair and dripped down his face and neck. Luffy didn't make a move, though. The man had only accidentally spilled beer on him, nothing more – he recalled Shanks saying the exact same thing to him. It was only beer. It didn't matter.

But Ace saw things differently, of course. He reached Luffy's side in a few long strides; his fist was raised up and ready to strike. Luffy looked up at the older boy, who was giving off a hostile, cold aura as he glowered at the muscular man. Luffy grabbed Ace's raised fist, and the older boy lowered his gaze to meet Luffy's own. The straw hat boy shook his head almost imperceptibly.

"It's only a bit of beer," He told Ace. "There's nothing to it." Ace was almost as stubborn as he was, but he knew he had to make Ace understand… That was what Shanks had taught him. He held Ace's strong, intense stare determinedly, until finally the tension in the older boy's arm seemed to disappear. "I'm sorry," Luffy said again, this time giving the man a quick bow. Just as he was about to leave, the man stopped him once more, a wide sadistic grin spreading on his face.

"Just so you know, you don't wanna offend me, little boy," He said in a low voice, a crazed look in his wide eyes as he considered Luffy, and then Ace, "My name is _Bellamy_, and you ought to know that I'm with _Joker_. Don't think about offending us."

"I got it, but I have to go for now! Bye!" Luffy said, and then grabbed Ace by the wrist again, making his move back to the stage. Ace let out a sigh. Luffy knew that Ace _couldn't_ help but get defensive when he saw his friends getting bullied – it was the sole reason for Ace being constantly in fights. Ace had also had a tendency to never back down in fights, and Luffy didn't want Ace to end up fighting because of him.

"Let's – ah, there's someone else on stage!" Luffy's excitement seemed to deflate instantaneously the moment he caught sight of a couple doing body gags on stage. Unfortunately, their gags seemed to be very funny, as the whole bar was filled with sounds of laughter again. Luffy pouted sadly, and Ace patted Luffy on the back.

"Well, let's just go back for now," He shrugged, "Guess we needa let someone else have the limelight for now."

"But _Ace_~!" Luffy protested, but met with Ace's stern gaze. "Fine, we'll go some other time." He sighed, but abruptly his frown changed to his usual bright grin. "Let's continue our game! The 'Circle of Death'!" A new excitement building up in him once again, Luffy hastily made his way back to the table. They would be passing the man named Bellamy again – every instinct in Ace screamed that the man named Bellamy was no good news. He made sure that he kept Luffy in his line of sight. If Bellamy wanted to do anything funny, he'd have to go through Ace first.

Before the older boy knew it, though, Luffy had fallen flat on his feet. He caught sight of that treacherous foot sticking out from under a table, and once again caught sight of that strands of dirty, matted blond hair and cruel grin…

His blood seemed to run cold, anger coursing through his veins, his eyes flaring with wrath. He made his way to Bellamy. The man hadn't even sensed his presence, so consumed he was in laughing at Luffy as Luffy got up to his feet, picking up the strewn straw hat from the floor and rubbing his knees… Before Bellamy knew it, a hand had held him by the neck harshly. His eyes bulged, and within less than a second he was flung out and thrown from his chair before slamming straight onto the ground with a huge crash.

The noise made from the impact when the chair had snapped into two upon being thrown by Ace caused the whole bar to fill with an eerie silence. A scream broke the silence, "GANG FIGHT!" Almost immediately, pandemonium broke out. The sounds of chairs screeching and screams filled the bar as everybody squeezed out of the exit, desperate to get away before the fight escalated.

"G-G-Gang..?" Usopp looked around in a fluster, "But it is midday… there shouldn't be any gang fights…"

"Let's go!" Nami said, "Where's Ace and Luffy…"

"It's Ace," Zoro suddenly said. All heads turned to look at him immediately, "Ace is fighting."

A tense silence met that statement, until Usopp let out a howl of disbelief. "THEY'RE PICKING FIGHTS WITH GANGS NOW? Oh no, I don't know them, I don't know them… where _is_ my slingshot… I knew all that training in Robin's class wouldn't go to waste…"

"Training..? Robin's class..?" Sanji echoed.

"Ah, I'll tell you later…" He said, rummaging his bag.

"I don't think we should get involved in this, Usopp," Nami said. "Let's say we just run off first – those two idiots can take care of themselves!"

"But… it's… with a gang…" Usopp stammered.

"I'm going to stay." Vivi suddenly said. She took out two weird looking objects from her pockets, her gaze steely and determined. She began spinning the objects with both hands, prepping herself for a fight.

"Don't," Zoro suddenly said. "Ace wouldn't like it. Let them do their things. We'll just have faith in them." Zoro sat back down calmly, his arms folded across his chest. Sanji glanced at Zoro and sighed, sitting back down beside him.

"He's right," Sanji said, even though he barely knew them well enough to know that. "Those two shitty idiots would get help from us if they need it. I think so, at least." He didn't know them that well, but somehow he felt that the two wouldn't need help.

Meanwhile, Ace had planted his foot onto Bellamy's chest, pinning the man to the ground. "Ace!" Luffy protested, but Ace didn't even bother to glance in Luffy's direction.

"Don't expect me to back down, Luffy," Ace said in a low voice, "He hurt you." Luffy stared at Ace, and then a broke into a grin.

"Even so, I didn't need your help." Luffy told Ace brightly, and finally Ace managed a short laugh.

"Yeah, I know. I just wanna do this." He pressed his shoe harder onto Bellamy's chest. The man coughed, and then smiled that trademark grin of his again up at Ace.

"You don't know what you're getting into. Didn't you hear me? I'm with _Joker_!"

"You don't want to mess with my friends, either," Ace answered, and then grabbed the man by the hair and pulled him up until the two of them met face to face. Bellamy cringed in pain, but that grin never left his face. "You don't get to hurt my friends and get away with it."

"Bellamy!" A hoard of voices suddenly said at the same time. The blond haired man gave a quick nod of his head, and suddenly, a big group of people got up to their feet. Ace looked around, to realize belatedly that Bellamy was _not_ alone – in fact, Ace and Luffy were both currently _surrounded_ by members of his gang. And even worse, he realized that all of them carried weapons – swords, guns, daggers were stowed either in the insides of their jackets or hung on their hips, and the gang members whipped out their weapons with a flourish, waving them in the air as they closed up on Ace and Luffy.

Ace had only a second's notice when he realized a presence looming behind him, and hastily jumped out of the way before a knife had slashed at the place he was at mere seconds ago. In the process, he had let go of Bellamy, and Bellamy smirked at Ace.

"You'll face the wrath of the Bellamy gang now." He said, and just when the man was about to take a step forward, one of his gang members approached him from the back.

"B-Bellamy-san," The person said. The tanned man frowned.

"What?" He demanded harshly. The person didn't say anything, but only held out a phone for him.

"I-It's… _Joker_," The man choked out, and Bellamy's eyes narrowed. He took the phone from the trembling hands and placed it to his ear.

It was only a short conversation, but the feral grin on Bellamy's face had been replaced with an aggrieved expression. Finally, he returned the phone back to his subordinate, and ran a hand through his hair in frustration.

"Damn it, of all times…" He cursed under his breath, and then fixed his gaze on Ace and Luffy once again. "You're in luck, you pathetic trash," He hissed, "But don't think I'll let you off that easily." His gaze flitted to Luffy, and then to Ace, and that cruel smile returned to his face. "Freckles-guy," He indicated Ace, "Straw hat," He nodded to Luffy, "We'll settle this some other time."

He gave a nod to the rest of the members, who all sheathed their weapons. Without glancing backwards, he made his way to the door. An impulse rose in Ace to follow suit; after all, the fight hadn't even started, but before Ace could even take a single step, he saw Luffy holding onto his arm.

"Ace, it's alright," Luffy shrugged.

"I can't just let this go! H-He… you _know_ I can't just walk away from this! Luffy, let go of me!" Ace hissed, but Luffy stood firmly to his ground. He shook his head.

"No," He answered.

"Damn it! Luffy, don't you understand? He can't just do what he please and simply _leave_! I need to –" But Luffy refused to budge, no matter how much Ace tried to convince the straw hat boy to let him go. Finally, the last of the gang member had left the bar, leaving the entire bar empty and quiet. Ace stopped struggling in Luffy's grasp, letting his arm fall back loosely by his side. Sensing the older boy's defeat, Luffy took Ace by the hand once again and led him back to the table.

"Everything's alright?" Zoro asked, and Luffy nodded his head.

"Let's go," Luffy said, while Ace remained silent beside him.

The rest of them cast furtive glances at Ace, while Vivi merely walked quietly by his side, unquestioning. Ace's fists were still clenched tightly into balls, but he knew that Luffy was right.

It was better that Bellamy's gang had left, because what he said was true.

Nobody should ever offend Joker. _Ever_.

YES i know, it took a long time before the actual purpose of this chapter was out.. still, do review! :D it'll be much appreciated


	5. Favourite People

**Chapter 5 || Favourite Person**

"So basically, we act as Robin's… um, what does she call it?" Usopp turned to Nami.

"Punishment-carriers," Nami answered with a slight smile.

"Yeah, that! In fact, she has at least one of them in every class that she teaches, though how she managed to 'recruit' them, I have completely no idea…" Usopp continued, and Sanji caught him sneaking a glance to the back of the group, where Luffy, Ace and Vivi were at.

"So?" Sanji prompted, successfully capturing Usopp's attention.

"A-Ah, yeah that," Usopp faced him hurriedly, "Uh… so if someone isn't paying attention to her class or anything, she'd give us a signal. It can be anything, really – well, we know her well enough to know what her signals mean – and we'd carry out the 'punishment'. It's simply just throwing a piece of chalk at the guy's head, but the scary part is that the student has no idea who did it, and Robin would be just smiling up at him from the front of the class."

"That's why some people claims that Robin's a demon," Nami piped up, "There are rumours that she can sprout eyes from anywhere and everywhere, and your every action would be watched closely by her. Actually, that's pretty much true, isn't it?" She laughed.

"Yeah, in our class, we're basically her PCs," Usopp continued, "And I, the almighty Usopp-sama, of course, am the designated PC for her most of the times, thanks to my brilliant sharpshooting skills!"

"Unfortunately, I can't really go against that statement," Nami sighed, "Because Usopp really is quite good."

"U-Uh..?" The long-nosed sniper apparently had no idea how to react on compliments, "Y-Y-Yeah! Usopp-sama's the best! All hail the brilliant Usopp-sama!" He let out an awkward laugh.

Behind them, Vivi was gently nudging Ace on his arm. "It's alright, 'kay, Ace?" She told him. "Nobody's injured, so it's all fine."

"Y-Yeah, I know," Ace replied, "I just hate not doing anything when I see my friends getting insulted…" He let out a sigh. "But yeah, I know it's all for the best that we don't go about offending gangs."

Realizing that Ace's anger had piped down, Nami, Usopp and Sanji hastily turned to the conversation. "Ooh, what gang is it? Did the person tell you by any chance?" Nami asked.

"Hmm…" Luffy pursed his lips, "Ah, I remember! It's called _Jelly_ or something like that!" And then, his stomach let out a grumble, "Ah ~ I'm hungry~"

"It's not Jelly, you idiot!" Ace snapped, "He's just too hungry to think straight. Hm, let's see… I think it was… Jovi..?"

"That's like a puppy name, hahahahahaha," Luffy laughed brightly, "No, it's not Jovi! It's… Jazz!"

"Jovial!"

"Jenny!"

"Jason!"

"Johnny!"

"Jolene!"

"Jordan!"

"Joselyn!"

"What are they, name-calling now?" Nami rolled her eyes. "Are they even trying to recall the gang name now?"

"Okay, it's settled! I know what it is!" Ace suddenly said, and Luffy turned to fix his wide eyes on the older male.

"What ~?"

"It's Josephine!"

"Ah, so it's Josephine, is it?" Luffy nodded his head in agreement, "Ah, I see! What a funny name for a gang! Hahahahaha…"

"Surely it's not Josephine…" Usopp shook his head. "Ah, we can't get anything valuable from those two idiots…"

"Robin would probably know what gang it was," Zoro finally commented, and everybody's head turned around hastily to look at him, since he had barely spoken. "We can ask her later, before deciding whether or not we should beat them up for insulting our friend."

"Swordsman-bro is super~ cool!" Franky piped up, appearing out of nowhere with a bottle of coke in his hands. He took a deep swig of it, finishing the bottle in one gulp, and threw it into a nearby bin. "So, what's going on?"

"We're trying to figure out the gang Luffy and Ace had offended," Nami answered.

"Whoa! They've offended a gang?"

"Weren't you there when they were confronting the gang members?" Nami said, exasperated.

"Ah, so that's what was going on! I was wondering why the mood had suddenly become so serious!" Franky nodded his head in understanding, "So now I get it… What's the gang name?"

"Haven't you been listening to a word I said?" Nami let out a sigh, "We're _trying_ to figure out what gang it is!"

"Can't you just ask Luffy then?"

"Like we said," Usopp answered on Nami's behalf, "The two of them are completely no use! They can't remember something like this! We only have to count on Robin now…"

"How'd Robin know if she wasn't there?" Franky questioned.

"It's Robin. She'll know." Zoro finally answered sternly, and with that it stopped Franky's multitude of questions. Nami and Usopp sent Zoro a thankful glance, which the swordsman ignored. He turned to face the blond, who had been extremely silent during the entire exchange. "What's on your mind?" He asked. The blond looked up in shock, but then shook his head at the swordsman.

"Nothing," He muttered under his breath. Zoro simply shrugged, turning away.

Sanji shook his head again, not to Zoro, but at himself…

Those names Ace and Luffy had spouted… they all started with a 'J'…

And anything that started with a 'J' reminded him of… A grim expression settled on his face.

_Joker_.

...

"Where are we eating?" Luffy complained, "I'm hungry! It's been two hours since I've eaten anything!"

"Luffy," Ace said. When Robin wasn't around, the only person to be able to keep Luffy in control was Ace, and the older male knew that he'd have to save all of them from Luffy's never-ceasing complaints, "We've just an hour to go before we have dinner, alright? Stay put for a while," He told Luffy, running his hand through Luffy's messy black hair.

Ace didn't know it, nor did Luffy, but whenever he did that, Luffy would grin like a little puppy being patted by his owner. The sight was always so cute, so endearing, that all of them would let out a simultaneous 'Awwww' in their minds.

As per usual, when Ace ruffled Luffy's hair adoringly, Luffy grinned brightly, his eyes shut. If he were a cat, he'd be purring by now. And then Ace laughed, "Deal?" He said, turning Luffy so that the boy faced him directly.

"Yeah, deal!" Luffy chirped sycophantically, not even sure what he was agreeing to. "So when's dinner?"

"We've just agreed that it'd be an hour later," Ace shrugged, watching as Luffy's eyes went wide with horror.

"_An_ hour..? But Ace~!"

"A deal's a deal," Ace grinned, "You can't back out of it now!"

"You tricked me again!" Luffy protested, but Ace merely shrugged.

"Well, you're the one who's got tricked…" Ace answered. Suddenly, his eyes had fallen shut, and his legs gave way, toppling onto the person behind him – Sanji.

The blond caught him reflexively, but he looked to everyone in surprise. "What happened?" He asked, his blue eye widened in alarm. "Did he suffer any injuries when fighting?"

"Don't worry, stupid curly-brow," Zoro answered, as Sanji placed one of Ace's arms around his own shoulder to support the older male. "He's got narci - nari – nami - ah, some kind of funny disease." Zoro grunted, and then took Ace's other arm and placed it over his shoulders.

"Why have I suddenly become some kind of funny disease?" Nami demanded, while Usopp hastily hinted at Vivi to calm Nami down. The blue-haired girl nodded her head quickly, and Usopp jumped in to the rescue.

"You mean narcolepsy," Usopp piped up helpfully, "He just… sleeps whenever and wherever. Don't mind him."

"Does he know he has this… narcolepsy thing?" Sanji asked, and Vivi laughed.

"He doesn't believe it," She replied, "Until I finally proved it to him. One time, he fell asleep in his food – that always happens, it's nothing to get shocked over – and so I enlisted Luffy's help in bringing him home. Well, I guess the sudden change of location – and probably because of Luffy's frightful ways of trying to wake him up – made him realize he really has narcolepsy," She shrugged.

Sanji considered her words for a moment, nodding, and then looked to Vivi again. He caught sight of her looking at some random passer-by, an undecipherable expression on her face, when she abruptly turned to the rest of them, "Hey, I need to do something for a while. I'm gonna be leaving first. Tell Ace I said bye!" She told them, already sprinting off into a run before she had finished her words. Usopp looked at Vivi in shock, and then an expression of regret replaced his expression of surprise.

Sanji's gaze flickered from Usopp, and then to Vivi's fading silhouette and a small sigh escaped his lips. This had something to do with Usopp's drawing, he knew. And out of all of them present, only Usopp and Sanji knew that there was something wrong with Vivi and Ace.

Or more specifically, something wrong with Vivi.

But it was none of his concern. It mattered only to Ace and Vivi, and Sanji and Usopp were both outsiders. If Ace hadn't noticed anything, he wasn't going to say anything.

After all, it was their business, not his.

If he wouldn't like people snooping into his life, he'd do well to stay away from others' lives too. It was a fair exchange, wasn't it?

Zoro heard Sanji's soft sigh, and let out a laugh. "Are you too tired? Need I take over for you? I can carry Ace by myself, y'know."

"Shut up, marimo," Sanji answered back, even though he wasn't really responding to Zoro. It was just a natural reflex to answer when spoken to. He'd mastered that long ago. He caught Usopp's worried gaze, and gave a slight shake of his head. No, he hadn't said anything about Usopp's drawing to anyone. He could rest easy now.

"The sun's setting," Zoro suddenly announced, looking up at the sky. Sanji found himself looking up too. It was nothing special – just a typical sun set. Why was there a need to report it? The blond turned to look at Zoro's profile.

A shadow was cast over Zoro's features as his head tilted upwards to stare at the sky, where the deep luminescent blue gave way to oranges and pinks and reds of an evening sky. The swordsman had his fists clenched tightly, his expression grim.

The day was ending. Tomorrow…

Tomorrow was the only day in a year he'd allow himself that freedom, that he'd stop restraining his own emotions and confining them in the dark tempests of his own mind.

It was _her_ death anniversary.

"Are you scared of the dark, marimo?" Sanji said in a sing-song tune, successfully snapping Zoro out of his reverie. "Well, I suppose you can't photosynthesize in the dark," He continued, giving a shrug. With an annoying smile etched on his face, the blond turned to face Zoro, "Did I hit the bull's eye?"

"If you were to go aiming on your own dartboard of an eyebrow, yeah," Zoro retorted. "Why would you think that I'm scared of the dark?"

"Ah, I don't know," Sanji pretended to think, "The fact that you seem so interested in just a typical sun set? Or maybe that you have a plant for a head," Sanji gave Zoro an innocuous look. "Which do you think it is?"

"Or maybe you could just stop saying that I'm a freaking plant," Zoro muttered under his breath, though secretly he was thankful that the blond had interrupted his train of thoughts. It was no good to think so far, Zoro scolded himself. Tomorrow would eventually come. He'd deal with everything tomorrow.

"LET'S EAT!" Luffy announced happily.

"It hasn't been an hour!" Usopp protested, and Luffy stuck his tongue out at him.

"Ace's asleep, so it doesn't matter! Let's EAT!"

"Who said I'm asleep?" The black-haired man, whose head had been lolling on Sanji's shoulder a few seconds before, slowly stirred awake. "Eh, thanks," He said blearily to the blond, not noticing Zoro's presence just yet. Clumsily, he got back up to his feet, and saw Zoro by his side. "Huh? I thought you were that blondie just now."

Zoro raised an eyebrow up at him. "The _blondie's_ the other side." Zoro answered.

"Ah…" He turned to his other side. "Oh! Hey! Thanks, blondie!"

"You've already thanked me," Sanji drawled, "And stop calling me blondie. You know fully well what my name is."

"Heh, can't take a little joke, can you?" Ace answered, slapping Sanji heartily on the back. "Huh, what time is it now?" He looked up at the brilliant salmon-pink sky, "I feel like eating salmon…"

"LET'S EAT!" Luffy jumped at the opportunity when he caught sight of Ace drooling… at the sky. "SALMON… NO, let's have MEAT!"

"There's fish meat in salmon," Franky piped up.

"OH!" Luffy nodded his head, "LET'S EAT SALMON! AND MEAT! AND SALMON MEAT!"

"Where's Vivi?" Ace asked, realizing for the first time the absence of the blue-haired girl.

"She went on some errand," Nami answered, "Seemed pretty urgent. Oh, she told us to tell you that she said 'bye'."

"Ah, that girl's a busy person," Ace ran a hand through his hair. "Time for dinner..?" He asked. Collectively, all of them (excluding Luffy) exchanged glances, and then sighed. If Ace was on Luffy's side for dinner, then they'd have dinner.

There was no escape.

"Hey, I just messaged Robin. She's gonna come soon. School's already over, anyway." Franky told them.

"Chopper can't make it," Usopp sighed, "Still stuck in an important discussion with important-Chopper-things with that important teacher whose name nobody can remember."

"As usual," Nami grinned, "Let's go to our favourite bar!"

"Makino's bar!" Luffy began cheering loudly, "Let's go to Makino's bar!"

"Yep," Nami nodded her head. "Let's go to Makino's bar!"

...

Robin joined the group at the entrance of Makino's bar, and gave small weary smiles when asked about the day at her tiresome job.

"Your teacher's very furious that you've skipped," Was all she said before waving their questions away. Luffy opened his mouth to ask Robin another question, but seemed to have forgotten what he wanted to say and closed his mouth hesitantly. Meanwhile, Sanji, after dancing happily around Robin, as per his now-usual routine, the blond turned to Ace.

"Who's Makino?" Sanji asked Ace.

"Ah, she practically raised Luffy up." Ace answered jovially, "Luffy met Shanks at this pub, supposedly. I don't know. None of us has ever seen Shanks before. For all we know, Luffy made him up."

That didn't answer Sanji's question, but the blond let it go. "Shanks…"

"We've seen pictures of him before, though!" Usopp piped up. "He has apparently got really vivid red hair!"

"That's his only focal point, and that's the only thing we can remember of his photographs," Nami laughed. "I don't think Luffy can remember much anyway."

"Let's ask him afterwards! He'd go crazy at the very mention of Shanks!" Ace suggested, laughing heartily as they entered Makino's bar. "Hey Makino! How's business so far?" Ace asked.

"It's great! I'm really busy right now, so I'm sorry if I can't stay for a conversation… you guys can take the table at the back. It's quieter there," The person named Makino said, only pausing to give them a quick grin before scurrying across the room with a couple of beers in her hands.

They settled themselves noisily at the table, with Luffy shouting orders at the top of his lungs even before they had sat down, with Ace amending some of Luffy's orders hastily. All in all, it was an extremely messy business. Sanji had absolutely no idea how the people at the bar understood what the duo were ordering at all.

It was so different from the Baratie.

At the Baratie, if customers didn't make their orders short, precise and clear, they'd most likely face the wrath of the easily irritable waiters.

Including him, of course.

"Where's Chopper?" Franky asked, and Usopp groaned.

"You don't ever listen, do you?" Usopp complained, while Franky merely laughed. "Ah, Chopper's with that teacher of his… _again_…"

"For..?"

"Well, you all know that guy…"

"Which guy?" Sanji piped up, and Usopp shook his head, laughing slightly.

"Oh right, you don't know about him…" Usopp took a deep breath. "Well, actually, there's this guy that Chopper's been competing with for a while. In terms of grades, I mean – Chopper wants to be a doctor, and he pretty much self-taught himself a lot about medicine in general, so usually he tops the class."

"That is, until he first entered this school," Franky interrupted, obviously bored of listening to Usopp talk all the time. "There's this kid in this school, whom nobody have ever seen before –"

"At least none of us, that is." Usopp agreed.

"And he's always topping all the science classes and such. But nobody ever sees him. Apparently he skips school pretty often, too. He only comes to meet the basic requirements – passing the examinations. And after that, he disappears." Franky continued.

"He's known as 'the Surgeon of Death'." Usopp hastily piped in, opening his eyes as wide as he could and injecting as much horror as he could in that statement.

"'Surgeon of Death..?'" Sanji echoed, raising an eyebrow. "That sounds haunting."

"There are rumours," Usopp continued eerily, "That he works with gangs. He's not a professional doctor, but he treats them when they're injured."

"Well, they _are_ gangs, doing illegal activities," Franky laughed, successfully destroying the mood Usopp was trying to build up, "So they go to him. And he treats them. He has never failed once. But nobody knows why he's doing this."

"I think he's pretty smart, though," Nami answered, leaning back on her chair and hitting Luffy hard on the head when he was about to snatch another customer's food off their plates, "I mean, this way, all those gangs he has helped owe him, right? So he has a hold over them. He can do whatever he wants. He can ask for anything. They'd have to help him."

"Hey, what are you talking about?" Luffy piped in, grinning.

"Nothing much, just the 'Surgeon of Death'," Usopp shrugged.

"Oooh! That guy! I wanna see him! He sounds so cool!" Luffy's grin, if possible, widened. "Look at his name! It's so cool!"

"Nobody even knows his name, Luffy," Nami chided, "That's just a nickname."

"But still, it's so cool! How can someone with that nickname _not_ be cool?!" Luffy protested with a pout. "His name is awesome!"

"Oi, Luffy," Ace interjected, and Luffy turned to face the older male with wide eyes, "Let's talk about Shanks. He's your favourite person in the whole world, isn't he?"

"Oh no," Nami shook her head. "Luffy will never stop talking now."

Luffy frowned slightly, tilting his head to the side. "Yeah, Shanks is my favourite person in the world! Ace, you're a close second!" Luffy beamed up at Ace brightly.

"Huh?" Ace smiled sheepishly, running a hand through his hair. He hadn't expected that last statement. "Ah, thanks, Luffy."

"Shanks is awesome!" Luffy laughed, "He didn't mind when someone spilled beer on him! Well, because the person hadn't done anything to him anyway! He taught me lots of things!"

"Now that we're on this topic," Nami hastily cut across Luffy's words before he could continue his endless praises for the red-haired man, "Let's talk about our favourite people in the world!"

"Huh? You crazy, nee-san..?" Franky gave her a bewildered look. "We're not _five_ or anything."

After receiving a particularly huge bruise on his head, there were no more complaints around the table. Nami grinned. "Since Luffy started first… pick the next person!"

"Me? Really? I can pick?" Luffy asked, and Nami nodded her head. "Yosh! I pick…" His gaze skimmed through the table, and rested only briefly on Zoro's thoughtful expression. He frowned, and then abruptly burst into laughter. "Sanji!"

"M-Me..?" The blond was caught by surprise. Zoro looked up, his gaze locked onto the blond. And then he laughed.

Her death anniversary was only tomorrow, not today. He wouldn't get himself upset right now. He'd only allow himself that moment of weakness tomorrow, no other day.

Right now, he'd be normal.

"I wonder who the dartboard-brow favours the most in this world," Zoro teased, and Sanji glared at him.

"Is it that man named Zeff, whom you said had taken care of you growing up?" Robin finally opened her mouth to speak. Sanji was shocked that she had remembered the old geezer's name, but let it slide.

"He… I owe a lot to him," Sanji answered her thoughtfully, his fingers tapping softly on the wooden table as he thought things through.

If he had to be honest with himself…

_That person_ was the person he favoured the most. He didn't understand it himself, but he supposed it was because that person had helped him through the hardest part of his life.

Even though Sanji was never acknowledged to be a friend –only as an ally, an acquaintance.

Even though they only told each other their names on the last day they'd ever see each other.

Even though Sanji would rather never to have gone _there_, because that was where he met _that person_.

Somehow, despite all of these…

He'd never forget that stiff, young face, the grim expression, of the person that had saved him. But he would not say a word of this to his new friends.

After all, he wanted to leave all of it behind. Why should he bother bringing old events up again?

Besides, he didn't want to relive those memories. Those memories that haunted him in his childhood, to the years of his adolescence – _still_ haunted him, in fact. He'd spent _years_ trying to will away those memories, but it proved to be difficult.

He could only now temporarily force that part of his mind shut, to act as though everything was alright. When the ghastly memories failed to haunt him while he was awake, they taunted him at night. He wouldn't let anyone know of all of these.

Especially not his newfound friends.

"I guess my favourite person… _is_ Zeff," Sanji finally answered.

"You took so long just to answer that," Zoro commented stiffly from the side, and Sanji shot him a glare.

"He's not exactly the most likeable person on the plane of this Earth, you know," Sanji retorted. "He always kicked me, hit me, whenever I broke a dish or even passed him the wrong ingredient when he was cooking. He made me do all the household chores. He never ever complimented me, only insulted me daily."

"He sounds fierce," Usopp told Sanji with wide eyes, and Sanji let out a laugh.

"Yeah, he was strict, but he's the kindest man I ever knew." Sanji let out a deep sigh, looking away from the table at the boisterous bar. "He saved me."

"… Is he not your real father?" Franky asked awkwardly. Robin gave him a sideway glance, disapproving his outright honesty, and Franky shrugged at her. He _was_ curious.

"… Nah," Sanji finally answered. Expecting the next question, he added, "He was a friend of my parent's. My parents died when I was younger, so he took care of me instead."

Everyone else at the table nodded their heads in understanding, but Robin continued to eye Sanji suspiciously.

The blond was good.

His gaze remained steady, his posture slack yet not overtly relaxed, his tone completely neutral – It was only based on pure instinct that Robin knew Sanji was not telling the truth, and that the blond didn't want to say anything more. She then turned to look at Luffy, who was blissfully ignorant that Sanji was blatantly lying right at their faces – Luffy was more perceptive than more people knew, so she expected him to have realized something. Apparently the straw-hat boy didn't.

Robin then shot Zoro a quick glance. The swordsman was nodding his head, but his full focus wasn't on Sanji. She shook her head ever so slightly. It'd be a tough day for the swordsman tomorrow.

After all, everybody knew what day it was.

It was no wonder he was so distracted today. If otherwise, he might've been able to notice something. As such, nobody but herself suspected Sanji.

"Alright, now…" Of course, the first name on the blond's lips was the marimo's, but he had long noticed that the swordsman wasn't really paying attention to anything today. He supposed that the marimo had something important on tomorrow, but then again, it really wasn't any of his business, "Nami-swan!"

"Ah, should've expected it," Nami groaned, and then described her favourite person in the world: Bellemere. Bellemere had taken care of Nami and her sister, Nojiko, after picking them up at a forest not far from her own house, "Just like you," Nami grinned towards Sanji, who quickly gave her a bright smile. Afterwards, she called on Usopp, and scolded Luffy, "You've already talked about your favourite person!" when he dared to object.

"This shall be a long and daunting telling of MY, ore-sama's favourite person in the world! Mind you, it really isn't easy to be on the top of ore-sama's favourite person list, because after all, who is more perfect than me? Hahahahahahahaha – behold, my favourite person in the world is –" From what Sanji understood after Usopp's ten minutes long introduction on his favourite person in the world, the long-nosed teen's favourite person was his father, Yasopp, who had apparently gone off– coincidently, with _Shanks_ – for a business venture since Usopp was very young. "Robin, your turn," Usopp said after finally concluding his long story.

It was entertaining, to say the least, in listening to all of their stories. This may be, to them, a normal thing – just chatting with friends about anything and everything in the world – but to the blond, it meant way more than that.

He had never experienced anything like it. Not even with his own 'favourite person in the world', because they told each other they weren't friends, but merely comrades. It didn't come to his surprise when nobody had called Zoro out. Apparently, they all knew what was about to happen the next day, because they never called the swordsman out on his odd behaviour.

To the marimo's credit, he _was_ trying to pay attention and act normal to the day's activities. He'd suddenly snap out of his reverie to add some sarcastic remark to Sanji's comments, or take a huge gulp of beer he had ordered, or simply just smile as he listened to everyone else's story.

Despite this long sharing session being exhausting after a while, Sanji couldn't help but feel an intense joy and weird light-heartedness as he listened to all his newfound friends' stories. He couldn't help himself from grinning, and when he met with an odd look or comment, he'd just say that the food at the bar was really good, even though it wasn't exactly as good as he could've made it.

All Sanji ever wanted was some normalcy in his life – to make friends, ditch school, and spend hours just talking to his friends. And now, all of that was accomplished in a day. None of them could ever realize how fortunate that made him feel, how _undeniably happy_ he felt, even though he barely even knew any of them.

Because what they've given him in just two days was worth more than his entire life so far.

And as childish as it may sound, but right now, all of them, including the frustrating marimo, was his favourite people in the whole wide world.


	6. Comfort

It's a long chapter ahead! Please do review, it'd mean so much to me.

**Chapter 6 || Comfort**

"The marimo isn't in school today?" Sanji asked, chewing on the end of his pencil as he tried to focus in class.

No luck doing so. He was still feeling oddly happy from yesterday.

"Nope," Luffy answered, frowning at his worksheet. "Isn't this correct?" He asked Sanji, "I did everything Usopp told me to."

"Let me take a look," Sanji let out a deep sigh. Usopp, as it turned out, was only good in art. His studies..? Not so. Sanji stared blankly at the Chemistry worksheet for a while, his head tilted as he tried to decipher Luffy's messy handwriting. His handwriting, like his own personality, was huge, just like a five-year-old kid's, and apparently the straw hat boy could not write in a straight line. Finally, he managed to pick out several words here and there that sounded like it belonged to a Chemistry worksheet, "Um… Luffy," Sanji waved his pencil in front of Luffy's face, trying to capture his attention.

"So? What's wrong?" Luffy asked eagerly. "I did it correctly, didn't I?"

"You… _do_ know what oxidising and reducing agents are, _right_?" He asked tentatively. It was one of the most basic fundamental things of learning about chemical reactions.

"Yeah," Luffy bobbed his head up and down enthusiastically. "It's like what Usopp told me! Some insurance agents cheat your money, so those are reducing agents, because instead of allowing you to get more money you lose money! Then the others are all oxidising agents, because they use some chemical magic to make your money grow and grow and grow! I bet Nami would like an oxidising agent…" Luffy chirped happily. "Am I correct?"

Sanji ran his hand through his hair, shaking his head slowly. "Luffy… you've got it wrong." He finally said, turning to meet Luffy's wide eyes.

"What?"

"Usopp… probably doesn't know what oxidising or reducing agents are either," Sanji exhaled deeply through his nose. "You want me to tutor you?"

"Sanji, are you _smart_?" Luffy asked, genuinely curious. "I thought you probably weren't! In our group, Robin's the smart one! Nami's really good with numbers and all, and Usopp's good at art! Zoro sometimes _gets_ Chemistry and Physics and all, but that's only half of the time! Franky's really good at woodcraft and designing and stuff, but those aren't really tested in the school! Chopper's really smart and good at all the sciences, but he can't teach!"

A small smile cracked on Sanji's face, "Then what about you?" He couldn't help asking. Luffy beamed up at him.

"Of course, I'm stupid! I don't understand any of this! But Nami's helped, so my math's improving! I can't get any better at art, but Usopp says that art is based on natural talent so it can't be helped! Zoro and Chopper helps with my sciences, but Chopper really _can't_ teach and Zoro's guessing half the time! Robin knows a lot, but probably too much, because I don't understand a single word she says! Franky… can't help at all," Luffy looked downcast for one moment, but became cheery again, "If you're smart, you can tutor me! Then I can pass!"

"What about Ace?" Sanji probed, noticing that Luffy hadn't mentioned the older male at all.

"Ace can be smart, sometimes…" Luffy began, "But now he's not!"

"Huh?"

"He's weird! He's sometimes really, really – and I mean _really_ – good at some topics in a particular subject that he tops the whole school! But other times he just does really badly!" Luffy laughed. "Ace's weird! So are you smart? Can you tutor me?"

"… I'm not sure if I'm _smart_," Sanji began, "But I can understand most of the concepts in class if I try, so I suppose I can help you out." He shrugged.

"Yes! Sanji's the best!" Luffy cried out, jumping to his feet. Immediately, the spotlight was on him... _again_. The Chemistry teacher shook his head, resigned to the fact that Luffy would always cause a disturbance in his class.

And give weird answers about insurance agents in a _Chemistry_ worksheet.

...

"He did it _again_!" Chopper complained, looking down at his feet. "There was this beginning-of-school-term test, and apparently he just came to school to sit for the test!"

"And..?" Usopp asked, even though he knew the answer.

"He beat me! _Again_!" Chopper moaned. "I don't like this! Who is he? I don't even know who he is and he's winning me in everything…" The reindeer's huge eyes filled with tears, and then he looked up at Usopp. "Who's this 'Surgeon of Death' guy…?"

"I want to know too!" Luffy chirruped from the side, "Eh Sanji, why can't you tutor me today? When can we start?"

"I need to go grocery shopping – all my food was used on you," Sanji explained, "I'll start tomorrow or something, okay? Go and figure out what exactly you're not sure of, and make a list. It'll make things easier tomorrow."

"Sure!" Luffy agreed easily, "Bye! Make some nice food tomorrow for me!"

"Maybe," Sanji laughed.

"You _must_!" Luffy protested.

"Yeah, yeah, sure… see ya Chopper, Usopp! Don't get too upset over that phantom guy!" Sanji shouted. Usopp waved goodbye, while Chopper nodded his head fervently. Then, the three of them turned around to head into Makino's bar once again.

He headed to the supermarket near his house, loading a basket full of grocery supplies. Realizing that he'd need more if Luffy ever visited again, he took another basket and began filling it with more items.

Unbeknownst to him, the corners of his lips tugged upwards to form a warm smile.

He liked this. He liked interacting with his friends daily, of knowing that there were people who cared, people whom he could invite over to his house and cook for anytime.

He liked feeling this _involved_.

So far, he hadn't regretted leaving the Baratie to experience life like this.

Sanji hummed under his breath as he checked out his shopping items, looking out at the bustling street. "Thank you," He said to the cashier, giving such a warm, radiant smile that the person behind the counter seemed stunned first before hastily returning the smile. He picked up his grocery bags easily, and left the supermarket.

And then he felt _it_.

He'd know this scent from anywhere. He looked up to the sky, to see grey clouds looming above him, casting the entire street in a dark shadow. Thunder roared, and soon droplets of rain began pouring from the sky.

The smell of rain.

He knew he had to run if he wanted to make it home on time. The rain would soon escalate to become a storm – the sky was thick with rainclouds, and the atmosphere was heavy with moisture. He hastened his footsteps, tightening his grip on the five grocery bags as he rushed back home.

The raindrops fell heavier and faster, and before long he was already drenched, his school uniform clinging onto his body like second skin. He glanced up at the sky again – the clouds looked even more ominous now, and thunder rumbled once more. He briefly caught a glimpse of lightning not far away from him. _Shit_, he'd have to hurry.

As he rushed into his apartment complex, from the corner of his eyes he caught sight of something oddly familiar – _green_. Hastily, he poked his head out into the rain again. It was _him_, alright.

The stupid marimo didn't even seem to realize it was raining. Hanging on his hips were his three swords, and the swordsman had his hand placed on the hilt of one particular sword. As Sanji watched Zoro continue on in his aimless path, yet another strike of lightning split the sky.

Argh, that _stupid_ marimo!

"Oi!" Sanji called out, leaving his grocery bag on the ground as he rushed out into the rain again. He looked back up at the sky. It wouldn't take long.

He needed to get back home before the rain escalated into a storm.

"Oi, you stupid plant-head!" He grabbed Zoro by the shoulders and spun him around, "What are you doing here?" He yelled. Zoro seemed to slowly stir awake after being harshly grabbed by Sanji, and then finally his unfocused eyes met the blond's angry glare.

"… Eh? What am I doing here?" Zoro finally replied. He hadn't known where he was going. He just kept on walking, with his hand firmly clutching Wado Ichimonji.

Today was _her_ death anniversary.

"Argh," Sanji blinked away the raindrops that had landed near his eyes, "Let's get back in. It's gonna be a storm soon," He said. To his surprise, Zoro didn't argue back with him. He allowed himself to be led back into Sanji's apartment. But then again, there wasn't much to be surprise of, Sanji thought to himself.

After all, Zoro seemed to be _very_ distracted.

"Change out of your clothes," Sanji told Zoro, throwing him a clean white shirt and a pair of long pants. "And then… go and sleep or something."

"… Thanks," Zoro managed to mutter, picking up the clothes Sanji had strewn to him and walking into the blond's bedroom to change.

He took off his wet shirt methodically, and put on Sanji's clean one. It had been a stormy day like this too when Kuina had died.

He remembered the day oh-so-clearly.

He had been outside, lifting weights and struggling to keep his footing as the rain mercilessly pounded down on him from the sky. Thunder roared, and lightning flashed across his eyes, yet he continued to lift weights upon weights.

If he wanted to become the best swordsman in the world, he had to keep on training. If he couldn't even win _her_, then how could he reach for the skies? Despite the burning ache in his arms, his muscles _screaming_ at him to stop, he continued with his training. He needed to train. He wasn't strong enough. He was too weak, _way_ too weak.

That day, if only he had stopped his training earlier and had gone back to the dojo, perhaps he could have prevented the tragedy from happening. If he hadn't been so obsessed in getting stronger, perhaps he'd have a chance of saving her.

As it turned out, he was too late.

It was ironic, really. He stayed outside to train, all for the hopes of finally winning Kuina. He forced himself to train continuously despite his extreme fatigue, and in turn he returned to the dojo way later than he'd normally do.

Because of that, he was too late to save her.

He blamed himself tremendously. It was raining, dammit! Why couldn't he have been more concerned over her safety? Why had he foolishly decided to go out and train when the sky was overcast and the weather was stormy – the perfect recipe for accidents to occur?

There were so many 'what ifs', there were so many other choices he could've made that day which would all lead to her being saved. But yet none of those happened. He'd just had to pick the one possibility of her dying.

He berated himself daily for letting her down. The guilt that he felt overweighed everything else – even sadness and anger.

To this day, he couldn't forgive himself.

He tried sleeping, like what Sanji had told him to do, but he couldn't. Many thoughts, many 'what ifs', bombarded his brain – he just couldn't rest.

He had to do something.

The rain had steadily become heavier. It was a sure sign that a storm would be breaking out sooner or later. It was the perfect occasion for her death anniversary, wasn't it, considering that day had been stormy like this, too. He let out a bitter laugh. Was she watching him from the heavens? Was this her method of scolding him, of blaming him?

No, it wasn't her fault, he told himself sternly. He only had himself to blame. Him and his stupidity, him and all of his weaknesses.

He slid out of Sanji's bed and made his way out of the door to the deathly dark living room, to see the silhouette of a person at the kitchen.

"You're up?" The familiar velvety voice of the blond's greeted him, "I'm making tea, want some?"

He hadn't expected the blond to be awake. "No," Zoro answered stoically, and then sat down on the sofa.

"Couldn't sleep?" Sanji asked, stirring his tea and setting it down on a saucer. Picking up the saucer, he made his way to the living room and placed the cup onto the table. He glanced at Zoro's way, and then sat beside the swordsman.

Zoro shook his head as a response, not bothering to even look in the blond's direction. He wanted to be alone right now. He _needed_ to be alone right now. The blond should've understood the dismissal.

Sanji took a deep breath, fingering his pocket for his cigarette. Once he felt it, he quickly whipped it out of his pocket and placed the cigarette between his lips. Exhaling deeply, he finally said, "Pass over the lighter."

Zoro glared at the blond, but did not say anything. Figuring that it'd be better to just do as the blond said so that he'd go away, Zoro reached around the coffee table for the lighter. The lights weren't switched on, and the stormy clouds made the room even darker than usual – it was difficult to find anything in such darkness.

When Zoro found himself fingering something cool and hard, he reached out and pulled.

_Crack_.

The 'thing' that he had reached out for turned out to be the cup of tea Sanji had placed on the table. Before he could stop it, the cup fell over the edge of the table and tumbled onto the ground, spilling its contents all over the matted floor and cracking into pieces.

"I-I'm sorry," Zoro cursed himself. What the _hell_ was he doing? Now the blond would be busy scolding him and cursing him, and he'd never leave! He wouldn't get the peace and quiet he needed.

When there came no response, Zoro turned to his side.

Sanji's face was stony, his gaze fixated onto the pouring rain outside his window. It was then that Zoro realized belatedly that Sanji's fingers were trembling by his side – his pale skin was even whiter than before.

Tentatively, Zoro waved a hand in front of Sanji's face, but the blond did not stir. The blond seemed entranced – or _terrified_ – of something that Zoro couldn't see. The swordsman frowned, and then looked at Sanji directly in the eye.

"O-Oi…"

Sanji's eyes were unfocused but wide, seeing something beyond what Zoro could see. Zoro frowned, inching closer to the blond. What had happened? Was it something he did? He stared at Sanji's trembling fingers, and then his gaze moved to the fragments of cup scattered on the carpet.

_Crack_.

… Could that be it? He looked at the blond once more, but the blond remained motionless.

...

Sanji had never liked the rain. He hated stormy days especially. He let out a deep sigh.

No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't sleep on nights like these. With the rain pounding hard against the roads on the street, with the thunder rumbling ominously and the lightning that split the sky into two – he could never sleep.

He looked at his room door, firmly shut. The marimo should be long asleep by now. He didn't know why, but he seemed very distracted today, deep in thoughts. Judging by the dark circles under the swordsman's eyes, he probably hadn't gotten a wink of sleep the night before. Well, Sanji hoped that tonight the marimo would be deeply asleep by now.

Because he wanted to go through this alone, like how he had done so all these years. He didn't want company – he didn't need _anybody_ to witness him at his weakest. When the old geezer had approached him all those times in the years he'd been under his care, he'd push him away roughly. He shouldn't let anyone see his weakness, because that way people could have a hold over him. He didn't want that anymore.

Quickly, Sanji brewed water over high heat, and then threw in tea leaves into a porcelain cup. Damn it, his fingers kept _trembling_! He inhaled deeply, trying to calm himself. It was just a storm. No big deal. Just a freaking storm, that's all.

But when he caught another flash of lightning from the corner of his eyes, he still flinched.

It wasn't the storm that was the problem. It wasn't even the lightning, or the thunder, or the pouring rain. It was all because he was _so damn weak_! If only he had been stronger then… Now he only had himself to blame.

The door to his bedroom clicked open, and Sanji jerked his head to the back. He frowned. It was the marimo. Who else? "You're up?" He asked, stirring his tea, mentally cursing the marimo for still being awake at this time.

He should've just gone to bed!

"I'm making tea, want some?" Sanji finally asked again, exasperated. He couldn't chase the man away – after all, he _had_ brought him to his house. However, Sanji just couldn't help but be irritated by the marimo now.

"No," The swordsman replied in that monotonous voice of him, completely void of any emotion, as he sat down on the sofa. Sanji's frown deepened.

Perhaps whatever that was bothering the man was _still_ bothering him.

"Couldn't sleep?" Sanji asked, more cordially this time as he made his way to the living room. He saw the marimo give a curt shake of a head, and then continue glaring down at the ground. Sanji let out an inaudible sigh, and placed his cup of tea on the table, sitting down beside the swordsman.

Maybe if he got the marimo to speak his mind, he'd be able to chase him away sooner. He _needed_ his solitude right now.

He didn't want anyone here to see himself on the verge of losing control.

Sanji hastily took out his cigarette and placed it between his lips, "Pass over the lighter." He felt the marimo's glare on him, but he did not say anything else. Almost resignedly, Zoro felt around the table for his lighter.

And then…

_Crack._

"I-I'm sorry," Zoro muttered.

_Crack._

Sanji's blood seemed to run cold, his eyes widening in surprise.

_Crack._

That sound echoed in his ears, completely flushing away all rational thought in his mind. He stared out at the stormy sky outside his window, his fingers trembling uncontrollably.

_Crack._

He felt a hand pat him on his shoulder, and he jerked, pushing the hand away from him. That hand… wasn't _his_.

He wouldn't let anyone else touch him.

Because whenever someone else touched him, all he felt was tremendous pain. He remembered that feeling so vividly it _hurt_ even thinking about it.

The first time it all began, it was also a stormy day like this. Even _before_ that, it was also a stormy day…

...

_Drip…_

Black clouds loomed ominously in the sky, their grey faces glaring down at the world below, a haunting eerie expression etched on their faces. Tears spilled from their hollow sockets, crashing onto the pavement, a flood working its way through the streets. The relentless stream of water met shoes, breaking its pursuit.

_Splash_.

He was left out in the rain. A sob escaped his pale, trembling lips, and he hugged his legs. Rainwater soaked the dirty rags he wore as clothes, and streamed down his sunken cheeks, dripping off his chin.

_Flash._

The sky split into two, cracked like a porcelain cup meeting the floor, snapped into two. A resounding slap deafened him, rang in his ears, and the sky grew dark once again.

He shivered.

A waterfall burst from his tear ducts, splashed down his cheeks like a cascading river, drowned him in his sorrow. He didn't mean to do it… he didn't mean to… it was his first time, how'd he know what to do?

_"Fetch me some tea," He ordered. The boy looked up unsurely. "Don't make me repeat myself, __**boy**__. Who do you think you are?" He got up, his thin legs trembling, as he made his way hastily to the kitchen. He took the teapot, filled to the brim with piping hot earl grey tea, and brought it to his owner._

_The pot burned his hands, scalded his skin, but he bit his lip so as to not make a sound. He had only been here for a week, but knew the horror his owner actually was. He knew it, but never uttered a word about it. Just like the other kids. They all kept silent. If they wanted to live, they all kept silent._

_"Pour me a cup," The owner demanded. This time, he didn't wait. He took a cup from the tray, and mustered all his strength to lift up the heavy pot, struggling to pour the tea…_

**_Crack_**_._

_The nose of the teapot toppled the porcelain cup onto the ground. The cup met ground, and with an echoing crack, fell into limp fragments scattered like fireworks around the owner's feet._

_The boy shivered, but still, he dared not make a sound.._

_The owner peered down at him, his eyes cold and merciless, unfeeling. "Do you know who bought me that pot?" He questioned. The boy remained silent. He knew that his owner had a boss above him, a fiercer, crueller person. He never knew who he was. "You do, don't you?"_

_He picked the boy easily by the collar, and flung him across the room like a broken rag doll. He lay still, wincing, but still he remained silent._

_His owner walked towards him again, grabbing him by the sleeve this time. The window was open. Without further words, he threw him out the window. The boy landed onto the hard, concrete pavement._

_"Boss will know about this. You'll work for him instead."_

_That statement marked his death._

_If they wanted to live, they all kept silent._

_But sometimes, silence isn't enough._

_When you worked for the boss…_

_There is almost definitely no escape._

The boss had took him in, eyed him from head to toe, and then threw him outside once again.

The sky raged, shook with an anger that the whole world could hear, and then vented its fury upon him. It was his punishment, a punishment for breaking cups – a sign of disloyalty. He'd have to be corrected. And thus, he was sent to the boss. As punishment, the boss threw him out, so that he could be fed to appease the raging wrath of the heavens.

"You're new," A voice jolted him awake from his thoughts. He didn't dare to believe his ears. With the owner, the policy was always to keep quiet. He had never heard any of the children speak before.

A flash of lightning struck the sky once again, casting the entire streets in an eerie glow. He looked up. A boy stared back down at him.

He turned away, his cheeks pressed against his kneecap. With the boss… what was the policy? To sell your fellow children out..? He didn't know. So he'd keep quiet.

"I'm gonna get out of this place," The voice said. The voice was firm, unwavering, strong – confident. "I know I will."

"… How..?" It was the very first word he had spoken in a week. He couldn't see the guy's face. A shadow covered his features, a shade.

"Because I will not let myself give in to such people." He answered. It was such a simple answer. Why hadn't he thought of it himself?

"… Impossible," No, the thing that was impossible was _him_. It was the second word he had spoken in a week. Impossible.

"Who says?" The boy replied.

_No one…_

"I'm gonna get my chance soon. Just see." The boy didn't say it, but he heard the unspoken thoughts anyway.

_Come with me, _the stranger was saying.

_Why me? _The boy replied.

_There's nobody else. They're all too far gone._ The stranger answered, his head slightly lowered.

_… How? _The boy hesitantly answered. The stranger didn't reply. He didn't know how, either.

Aloud, the stranger assured, "I _will_ do it."

But… he didn't do it soon enough. The damage _would_ be done. And there was _no_ cure.

..

Thunder roared once again, snapping Sanji out of his reverie. He opened his eyes wide, looking around him with a crazed expression.

Where was _he_? And where was the _boss_? He hadn't done anything wrong this time around, did he? No, he didn't! He had been doing his chores dutifully... he hadn't even try sneaking food to _him_ this time round! No, what was he doing here..?

Sanji looked around, frenzied. He _had_ to get out of here! Before the boss came back… he _had_ to run away!

"Oi, Sanji! Wake up! What's going on?"

…

Whose voice was that? That didn't belong to the boss, nor did it belong to _him_.

Rational thought finally came to Sanji, and he took a deep breath, willing himself to calm down and think straight... Finally he brought his face up to meet the shadowed face belonging to the marimo.

At first, confusion hit him. What was the _marimo_ doing there…? But then everything became crystal clear to him.

It was just a shitty memory!

Sanji turned his head away from the swordsman hastily, utterly embarrassed and humiliated. What the _hell_ had happened? W-Why… did that scene suddenly pop up in his head? He hadn't thought of it in a long while. He hadn't lost control in a long while, _dammit_!

Throughout the years living under Zeff's care, he had been taking good care of himself! He had managed to keep himself under control, to force his fears and memories out – he had been doing a good job of it, too! Even though he had never managed to fully rid himself of them…

At least he had managed to suppress them! What the hell had happened tonight, then? In front of the accursed _marimo_, nonetheless!

"Oi, Sanji…"

He couldn't take it anymore.

"Pass me the damn lighter," He choked out.

As though in shock, Zoro stilled for a moment, eyeing Sanji suspiciously. After regaining his senses, he hastily grabbed the lighter from the table and handed it to the blond. With shaky fingers, the blond lighted up his cigarette, and then exhaled deeply.

He couldn't afford to lose control like this anymore. Not in a new city – not with a new life.

But the skies weren't as merciful as his own mentality.

Before having a chance to properly calm himself down, lightning cracked open the sky once again, thunder growling immediately after it. And Sanji couldn't stop himself from flinching. He turned to his side, hoping to find the comfort and warmth that belonged to _that person_ – only to find himself staring face to face with Zoro.

_Damn it_, keep in control, Sanji, the blond cursed at himself.

He turned away quickly once again, letting out a shuddering breath as he released a stream of smoke from his mouth.

But when yet another ray of lightning struck the sky, and he found a strong, muscular arm circling around him and bringing him close, he didn't object, or push away.

He needed that comfort now.

And Zoro was there to give it.

…

The blond stayed motionless. He stayed motionless for _way_ too long. It was unnerving, to see the irate blond cook stilled as such, just like a stone sculpture or a painting – stuck at one position, never to move again…

Finally, he saw a new movement from the blond. But this new action seemed to strike a chord in him, sending chills up his spine in the worst way possible.

Thin lines of tears streamed from Sanji's eyes down his cheeks, yet Sanji's expression did not change. It remained stoic, stationary, and unmoving. Tentatively, Zoro reached out to give the blond another pat, but his body was stiff and cold.

Earlier before, when Zoro had touched the blond, at least he had given some sort of reaction – he jerked away from the touch. But now, there was nothing. No reaction, no response… _nothing_.

"Oi, Sanji," Zoro said, waving his head in front of the blond again, but the blond did not stir. "Oi!" He yelled, finally finding his lighter and waving it in front of the blond. "I-I found your lighter!"

But none of his shouts or yells or pats would wake the blond.

That is, until thunder roared once again.

At that moment, Zoro had been staring into Sanji's dead blue eyes, trying to see if there was any reaction from it, when the blond's eyes suddenly widened. Zoro jumped back in surprise, his body slamming down against the armrest of the sofa. The blond looked around in a frenzied rush, his skin pale. Looking into Sanji's eyes once more, he saw that the stone-cold blue eyes were now wide and frightened.

"Oi, Sanji! Wake up! What's going on?" Zoro yelled. This expression of the blond's was even more unnerving, even more disorienting than the paralysed, comatose-like version of Sanji. Zoro didn't know what was going on, but he knew he needed to do something about it.

Finally, after what seemed like hours, that pale face turned to meet his own… and then Sanji hastily turned away again. But this time, Zoro knew he had seen that familiar spark in the blond's eyes…

Zoro allowed himself a smile.

Tremendously relieved, Zoro said, "Oi, Sanji."

"Pass me the damn lighter," Was the blond's snarky response, and Zoro's smile widened. He was _back_. Whatever that happened earlier on, it was all gone. The blond had returned back to his normal self. Zoro watched as the blond lighted up his cigarette, his fingers still trembling. When thunder came once again, Sanji had flinched badly, but upon meeting Zoro's gaze the blond turned away hastily, as though embarrassed.

There was no need to be embarrassed. Watching Sanji act like that – terrified, yet refusing to admit it – Zoro felt an innate need to comfort that stone-headed adamant blond. If he needed support, he'd give support. If he wanted comfort, he'd give comfort.

So when lightning struck once more, Zoro found himself reaching out to pull the blond close by his side. He didn't know what motivated him to do it – he hadn't even known that he'd do it in the first place – but the blond didn't move away, and he didn't feel like letting Sanji go.

Zoro hugged the blond tighter, allowing his eyes to fall shut – without realizing it, he had spent the entire night not giving a second thought about Kuina's death.

Zoro had desperately needed a distraction from all the guilt, all those thoughts eating up at his brain, at his rationality.

And Sanji was there to provide the distraction and comfort he needed.


	7. Of Break-Ups

Sorry for the long delay for this chapter! I just entered a new school in the beginning of this year, and was drowning in a buttload of work - still am, to be honest. This chapter is relatively short and uneventful,but here it is! Hope it was worth the wait!

**Chapter 7 || Of Break-Ups**

The morning was as normal as could be. Sanji slowly stirred awake, to immediately find himself snug and warm. A smile crept up his face as he nestled closer to Zoro's body, mistakenly thinking it was his cushion, or pillow…

Suddenly, his eyes shot wide open – his pillow was not that… _huge_. Nor was it so _warm_… That must mean that it _wasn't_ his pillow, right?

He found himself staring at a plain white shirt that looked oddly like his own, and then looked down at loose, long pants that were _definitely_ his. He tried pulling away from his supposedly 'cushion', but couldn't. A frown crinkled his forehead when he realized he was being enveloped by strong, tanned arms, muscular arms that held him close by _Zoro's_ side. What the _hell_ was going on?

And then last night's events flooded his mind.

He looked, in horror, at the arms of which he realized belong to that of the shitty _marimo's_. He exhaled deeply, trying to clear his mind – Zoro had stayed here all night with him, had witnessed him at his weakest, his worst… how the hell was he supposed to face the swordsman _now_? Hurriedly, he pushed the muscular arm that held him close to the swordsman, and jumped out of the sofa, watching Zoro with a cautious expression. The swordsman stirred, but didn't wake.

"Damn it, damn it, damn it," Sanji made his way to the bathroom, splashing cold water onto his face. He gripped the sides of the sink hard, his head bowed, his body hunched towards the sink as he exhaled slowly once more, "Damn it!" This shouldn't have happened. It wasn't _supposed_ to happen. Now Zoro probably knew what a weakling he was.

No, he'd act normal. This – what was this anyway? – didn't mean anything. Sanji… he'd just say he was… sick. Ah yes, he was sick. He hadn't felt too well last night, which led up to the events that transpired – _that wasn't going to work!_ The blond ran a hand through his dishevelled hair roughly; he didn't know how to face Zoro now.

Maybe he should just sneak out of the house without the swordsman noticing… No, that was a coward's action. And he wouldn't give the swordsman any other opportunity to mock him, or to think of him as weak. He wouldn't allow that! He'd just go out there and face the marimo. That was it.

But Sanji still hesitated at the sink anyway. Finally, he began to turn around, when…

"How long are you gonna be in there?" Sanji froze upon hearing that familiar gravelly low baritone that belonged to that of Zoro, "We're gonna be late for school, y'know." And then there was nothing. Wait, that was it?

"… Gimme a sec," The blond finally replied, stunned. Zoro… hadn't mentioned a word about last night. No teasing about the coward Sanji actually was, no mocking. Nothing. And the blond sighed again, but this time of relief. _Maybe I should've given Zoro more credit_, he thought to himself as he picked up his toothbrush. He looked up to see his tired, fatigued expression in the mirror, and then gave a tentative smile.

The marimo was better than he had thought after all.

...

"I asked if Usopp wanted to come along, but he didn't – he said it's because he was too brilliant to be in need of your help, but Nami told me that he was supposed to help Kaya with something – Then Usopp asked Zoro, but Zoro said he wasn't free in the afternoon because he was gonna be at the dojo, so he'll maybe come later in the evening – then I asked Nami, but Nami said that she was supposed to go out with Nojiko to get some clothes! So it's just you and me!" Luffy explained as the two of them walked back to Sanji's apartment. He turned to flash his bright grin at Sanji. "So, whatcha' gonna teach me today?"

"I think I'll correct you on your definition of oxidising and reducing agents first," Sanji replied with a smile. So the marimo would be coming later in the evening, huh? Sanji didn't know what to make of that. But thinking about it, he could understand the marimo's reasoning for wanting to come late in the first place. If Zoro had refused, Sanji would probably have thought that it was a response to what happened last night – that Zoro had thought lowly of him. If Zoro had gone with Luffy after school, things would be awkward between the Sanji and him.

So Zoro had opted for the best option – he decided to come later, in the evening, when Luffy had successfully broken the tension. It was a smart choice, Sanji allowed, smiling slightly wider now. The marimo was not as daft as he had expected.

In actual fact though, what the blond hadn't realized was that Zoro didn't think too much into things in the first place. The marimo _did_ have practice to attend, and he _did_ need a lot of help in his schoolwork after forsaking his grades to spar with other students in the school.

When they had reached home, shockingly, Luffy didn't immediately clamour for Sanji to make him food. Instead, he settled comfortably on the bright red armchair and spread his studying materials out on the table in the shape of a fan. Luffy turned to look at Sanji, "I'm ready!"

"Okay, I'm coming already," Sanji said, placing his shoes neatly into the shoe cabinet before making his way to Luffy. "So… about oxidising and reducing agents. I guess you've figured that what Usopp taught you was wrong."

Luffy nodded his head, looking at Sanji expectantly. The blond looked slightly embarrassed at the attention, but continued anyway, "You need to remember this. Oxidising agents are substances that causes other substances to be oxidised, but reduces itself." He looked at Luffy, "Okay?" Luffy nodded his head, and Sanji frowned. "So, explain what that means," He told Luffy.

"Oxidising agents are reduced!" Luffy grinned brightly, "Correct?"

Okay, so at least Luffy had gotten one part of it right. "Yeah," Sanji nodded his head, and Luffy laughed happily, "But remember this as well: Oxidising agents also cause _other_ substances to be oxidised." When Luffy gave him a baffled expression, Sanji elaborated, "That means other substances in the reaction, not itself, get oxidised. You do know what being oxidised mean, right?"

"I don't get it." Luffy answered.

"Uh… okay…" Sanji scratched his head, "So, you see…"

This went on for about an hour before Luffy had finally dozed off – which was shocking to Sanji, because he expected the straw hat boy to last only half an hour _at most_. The blond smiled at Luffy's sleeping form, opting to not wake him up. Instead, he made his way to the kitchen.

Luffy deserved a little snack. Maybe he'd make something simple – sandwiches, probably. With meat. Of course, he could never leave out meat if it came to Luffy.

As he prepared his ingredients, he found himself thinking about Zoro – it had been an hour. The swordsman was probably finishing his training practice, so he'd be coming over soon. Sanji let out a deep sigh. Even though Zoro had acted normally in the morning, he still wasn't sure on how to act around the guy. After all, he had witnessed something _very_ personal.

"What are you making~" He heard Luffy ask from behind him. So the boy had already awoken? Sanji turned around, to meet Luffy's dazed expression.

"Sandwiches, for snacking," He replied. Luffy grinned at him. "Take a seat – it won't take long." Obediently, Luffy plopped himself onto the bright red chair. Sanji shook his head.

After mere minutes, he placed a plate filled with small sandwiches onto the table. "You can take… five for now," He told Luffy, "For good behaviour."

"Yay! Thanks, Sanji! I like you as a teacher!" Luffy chirruped, grabbing six sandwiches and stuffing them into his mouth.

"Oi, I said _five_!" Sanji chided, but didn't do anything to Luffy.

"It's okay!" Luffy replied, swallowing the rest of his food. He looked thoughtfully at the sandwiches, and then turned to face the blond, "Can you make more of these?"

"What? No, not yet," Sanji answered. "We still have more to go, don't we?"

"It's not for me." Luffy told him honestly. Sanji's eye widened in surprise, and he gave Luffy a bewildered look – How could Luffy be requesting food… but not for himself? That made completely no sense! "It's for Ace." Luffy finally continued.

"Ah," Sanji said, but he didn't ask Luffy to elaborate further.

"Vivi broke up with Ace yesterday." Luffy told him, looking down at his fingers, which dripped with mayonnaise sauce. Sanji raised an eyebrow. He knew that there definitely was something bothering Vivi, but he wouldn't have guessed for it to lead to a break-up.

He knew he had to say something. "How did it happen?" He asked.

"I don't know," Luffy shook his head. "I asked Ace, but Ace doesn't know either! He said Vivi just suddenly… said it, yesterday after school."

"So… how's he?" Sanji didn't know Ace all that well – hell, he didn't even know _Luffy_ that well either – but somehow seeing Luffy's forlorn and dejected expression, he felt sad for the guy. Actually, he felt sad for _both_ Ace and Luffy. Ace, for the most obvious reason, and Luffy, for feeling so hurt over something that didn't even happen to him.

"I think he's sad." Luffy shook his head. "Ace is a nice guy! Why did Vivi break up with him?"

"It's not always about being nice or not, you know," Sanji told the boy, letting out a deep sigh. "Being together means more than that. The two people must… like each other."

"They like each other! That's why they got together in the first place, right?" Luffy protested.

Urgh, Sanji really wasn't good at this 'feeling' stuff. He didn't know how to comfort the poor guy. "Maybe that wasn't enough. Maybe…" He thought of Usopp's drawing suddenly and frowned, "Vivi didn't like Ace as much as she thought she did."

"… Why not..?" Luffy finally looked up, his huge puppy eyes staring straight at the blond, "Why doesn't she like Ace?"

"It's not for us to figure out, Luffy," Sanji patted Luffy lightly on the shoulders, "It's not our relationship. It's not for us to know. This is between Ace and Vivi."

"But… Ace doesn't know anything either!"

"Maybe he doesn't, not yet. But he will soon enough. He should know. After all, it's _their_ relationship." Sanji gave Luffy a shrug, "You can't do anything about it."

"… I want to comfort Ace. I don't want him to be so sad anymore." Luffy's voice cracked a little, and it broke the blond's heart to see Luffy so upset. "Food always makes me happy, so I thought if… if you made some food for him, he'll be happy too!"

Sanji laughed softly. Of course, Luffy's logic – food is the cure to everything. A flash of inspiration hit Sanji, and he turned to smile at Luffy. "Why not you make him something?"

"I can't – I'll eat everything before I even cook it!"

"But you want to make Ace happy, right?" The blond probed. Luffy nodded his head enthusiastically. "Wouldn't he be happy to be eating _your_ food, of all people – especially since you don't like to even share food, much less cook for someone? If you made the food, it'll make things even more special – so Ace will be happier."

"Really..?" Luffy didn't hear anything that Sanji said, actually. He only heard the words 'Your food', 'Ace' and 'happier', and he knew he had to do it.

"Yep," Sanji grinned. It wasn't all the bad an idea after all. He knew Ace would, really, be happier if it was _Luffy_ who had prepared the food instead of Sanji – Sanji barely knew the guy, after all. And with all of Luffy's messy efforts, he knew the guy would be able to cheer Ace up. That settled things easily, then.

"Teach me!" Luffy begged, and Sanji obliged.

If he had known how much food he'd end up wasting in the process, perhaps he'd have reconsidered.

...

"Bye Sanji! Thanks so much for today! You're the best!" Luffy said, grinning brightly. He looked at the darkening sky and gave a small frown. "Sanji, I think Zoro's lost again!"

"Lost?"

"Yeah, he's always lost! Let me call him," Luffy rummaged his pockets (which were full of sandwiches) for his phone, and finally managed to extract it out with difficulty. "Let me see… Z… Zoro… ah, there it is!" He flashed Zoro's phone number to Sanji, but before he could give Zoro a call his phone started to ring. "It's my granddad… he's going to scold me for sure! Sorry Sanji, I need to leave! Bye!" Luffy was simultaneously answering his phone, wearing his shoes, and waving goodbye to Sanji. The blond laughed, bidding goodbye to the zealous straw hat boy as he ran out of the house as quickly as he could, his shoelaces left untied and his bag unzipped.

Sanji let out a sigh. He should call Zoro. He picked up his phone and began to dial the marimo's phone number.

After a couple of rings, the marimo finally picked up. "… Hello?"

"Yo, marimo, it's me," Sanji sighed into the phone. "Where are you now?"

"On the way to your place," Zoro answered gruffly, and Sanji rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, _where_ exactly?"

"… On some bus," He replied.

Sanji exhaled deeply, and spoke into the receiver, "How long have you been on said bus?" He asked, expecting the answer.

"… Two hours."

"And you never thought to drop off?" Sanji said in disbelief. "Okay… what bus is this?"

"How would I know? Luffy just said to board the bus, so I boarded the bus!" Came Zoro's annoyed response. "

"So you just boarded whatever bus that came your way?" Sanji groaned. He should've just left the goddamn marimo alone, dammit. Now he'd be stuck running all around the place trying to find the idiot swordsman.

"What else did you want me to do? Of course I boarded the bus!"

"You did not board '_the_ bus', you simply boarded '_a_ bus'!" Sanji retorted, "Okay, where are you now? What street are you on? Do you even have any clue, you freaking thick-headed idiot?"

"Of course I do!" Then came silence on the other end, "Some park."

Sanji rolled his eyes again, "Yeah and there is only _one_ freaking park in this entire country." He answered sarcastically.

"Okay_, okay_," Zoro's voice sounded aggrieved. "Oi, where are we at right now?" Zoro shouted to someone over the phone. Sanji heard a muffled response before Zoro replied, "The driver said we were reaching the station soon."

"WHAT STATION?" Sanji yelled through the phone, so annoyed right now that he couldn't even bother to pretend to be cordial to the swordsman.

Zoro shouted the question to the driver, and then gave Sanji his answer – _finally_. The blond hastily slid his feet into his shoes and rushed out the door _– who knew what would happen if Zoro was left alone again_?

...

He reached the station in no time, to find the station empty and deserted. He let out another groan. If that damn marimo had left the freaking station, he wouldn't go around finding the stupid idiot. No, he'd leave the man as he was, apologize to Luffy for losing him, and go about his life as usual. No more of this babysitting bullshit – _no_. Sanji wasn't gonna give a damn about that seaweed-head anymore.

He walked around the station aimlessly, trying to spot a familiar moss-headed individual, but so far saw nothing. Goddamn, did Zoro give him the wrong place? He wouldn't put it pass the swordsman. That guy had nothing but air for brains.

Finally, he saw that familiar green hair and he let out a sigh of relief… No, it wasn't relief, goddammit. It was a sigh of exasperation – _exasperation_, not _relief_! As he approached that looming figure, lyrics of a particular song came to mind, and the corners of his lips tilted upwards. Heh, that'd be fun.

Slowly, he leaned forward, his lips hovering near the marimo's ear, and began singing a song. "_I'm sorry to turn out of the blue uninvited…"_

Immediately, Zoro spun around, his fist raised as if readying himself for a fight. Sanji let out a laugh upon seeing the surprise in Zoro's face, his laughter reverberating in the empty station.

"You should've seen your expression!" Sanji said between laughs, clutching his sides as he continued guffawing loudly. "I've never seen anything like it!"

"O-Oi, shut up!" Zoro said, his face slowly turning red. "Let's go!" He said gruffly, grabbing Sanji by the sleeve and pulling him.

"Not that way!" Sanji yelled his face still bright with laughter. "OKAY, I'll lead, and you just stick to following me like an obedient dog. You hear me?"

"A _dog_..? Hell no!"

"Nuh-uh, try that again." Sanji walked forward and turned around, cocking his head to signal for Zoro to follow him. Adamantly, Zoro stayed in his spot, glaring at Sanji. "Bad dog!" Sanji said, and Zoro turned away, resolutely walking in the opposite direction.

Sanji smirked. Zoro didn't know it, but he was following what Sanji wished for him to do anyway. He let Zoro walk like that for a while before finally saying, "Good dog!"

When Zoro finally realized what Sanji had gotten him to do, a fight ensued once again. Amidst throwing fists and whirling insults, Sanji couldn't help but feel relieved. There was no awkward tension between them, and Zoro treated him like he would any other time.

The incident was now forgotten.


End file.
